diff --git a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/JavaSrc2Cpg.scala b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/JavaSrc2Cpg.scala
index 373806a112a9..1f0822bc2db9 100644
--- a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/JavaSrc2Cpg.scala
+++ b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/JavaSrc2Cpg.scala
@@ -50,4 +50,22 @@ object JavaSrc2Cpg {
       new JavaTypeHintCallLinker(cpg)
     )
   }
+
+  def showEnv(): Unit = {
+    val value =
+      JavaSrcEnvVar.values.foreach { envVar =>
+        val currentValue = Option(System.getenv(envVar.name)).getOrElse("<unset>")
+        println(s"${envVar.name}:")
+        println(s"- Description  : ${envVar.description}")
+        println(s"- Current value: $currentValue")
+      }
+  }
+
+  enum JavaSrcEnvVar(val name: String, val description: String) {
+    case JdkPath
+        extends JavaSrcEnvVar(
+          "JAVASRC_JDK_PATH",
+          "Path to the JDK home used for retrieving type information about builtin Java types."
+        )
+  }
 }
diff --git a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/Main.scala b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/Main.scala
index 9ed16f78fbe7..63c8418e1430 100644
--- a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/Main.scala
+++ b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/Main.scala
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ final case class Config(
   delombokMode: Option[String] = None,
   enableTypeRecovery: Boolean = false,
   disableDummyTypes: Boolean = false,
-  jdkPath: Option[String] = None
+  jdkPath: Option[String] = None,
+  showEnv: Boolean = false
 ) extends X2CpgConfig[Config] {
   def withInferenceJarPaths(paths: Set[String]): Config = {
     copy(inferenceJarPaths = paths).withInheritedFields(this)
@@ -47,6 +48,10 @@ final case class Config(
   def withJdkPath(path: String): Config = {
     copy(jdkPath = Some(path)).withInheritedFields(this)
   }
+
+  def withShowEnv(value: Boolean): Config = {
+    copy(showEnv = value).withInheritedFields(this)
+  }
 }
 
 private object Frontend {
@@ -84,14 +89,25 @@ private object Frontend {
         .text("disable generation of dummy types during type recovery"),
       opt[String]("jdk-path")
         .action((path, c) => c.withJdkPath(path))
-        .text("JDK used for resolving builtin Java types. If not set, current classpath will be used")
+        .text("JDK used for resolving builtin Java types. If not set, current classpath will be used"),
+      opt[Unit]("show-env")
+        .action((_, c) => c.withShowEnv(true))
+        // This should really be a print-and-exit but, with the current scopt setup, input paths
+        // are still required, so for now `javasrc2cpg --show-env <inputs>` is less confusing
+        // than `javasrc2cpg --show-env <dummy input to keep scopt happy>`
+        .text("print information about environment variables used by javasrc2cpg prior to analysis")
     )
   }
 }
 
 object Main extends X2CpgMain(cmdLineParser, new JavaSrc2Cpg()) {
+
   def run(config: Config, javasrc2Cpg: JavaSrc2Cpg): Unit = {
-    javasrc2Cpg.run(config)
+    if (config.showEnv) {
+      JavaSrc2Cpg.showEnv()
+    } else {
+      javasrc2Cpg.run(config)
+    }
   }
 
   def getCmdLineParser = cmdLineParser
diff --git a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/passes/AstCreationPass.scala b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/passes/AstCreationPass.scala
index 9380dff7f283..ba5bce57ec03 100644
--- a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/passes/AstCreationPass.scala
+++ b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/passes/AstCreationPass.scala
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import com.github.javaparser.symbolsolver.resolution.typesolvers.ClassLoaderType
 import java.net.URLClassLoader
 import com.github.javaparser.symbolsolver.resolution.typesolvers.ReflectionTypeSolver
 import io.joern.javasrc2cpg.typesolvers.CachingReflectionTypeSolver
+import io.joern.javasrc2cpg.JavaSrc2Cpg.JavaSrcEnvVar
 
 case class SourceDirectoryInfo(typeSolverSourceDirs: List[String], sourceFiles: List[SourceFileInfo])
 case class SplitDirectories(analysisSourceDir: String, typesSourceDir: String)
@@ -90,10 +91,24 @@ class AstCreationPass(config: Config, cpg: Cpg, preCreatedAsts: Option[SplitJpAs
 
     val combinedTypeSolver = new SimpleCombinedTypeSolver()
 
-    val jdkPath = config.jdkPath.getOrElse {
-      val javaHome = System.getProperty("java.home")
-      logger.debug("No explicit jdkPath set in config, so using system java.home at $javaHome")
-      javaHome
+    val jdkPathFromEnvVar = Option(System.getenv(JavaSrcEnvVar.JdkPath.name))
+    val jdkPath = (config.jdkPath, jdkPathFromEnvVar) match {
+      case (None, None) =>
+        val javaHome = System.getProperty("java.home")
+        logger.info(
+          s"No explicit jdk-path set in config, so using system java.home for JDK type information: $javaHome"
+        )
+        javaHome
+
+      case (None, Some(jdkPath)) =>
+        logger.info(
+          s"Using JDK path from environment variable ${JavaSrcEnvVar.JdkPath.name} for JDK type information: $jdkPath"
+        )
+        jdkPath
+
+      case (Some(jdkPath), _) =>
+        logger.info(s"Using JDK path set with jdk-path option for JDK type information: $jdkPath")
+        jdkPath
     }
 
     combinedTypeSolver.add(JdkJarTypeSolver.fromJdkPath(jdkPath))
diff --git a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/typesolvers/noncaching/JdkJarTypeSolver.scala b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/typesolvers/noncaching/JdkJarTypeSolver.scala
index 5be3e0601e38..9b64772b083d 100644
--- a/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/typesolvers/noncaching/JdkJarTypeSolver.scala
+++ b/joern-cli/frontends/javasrc2cpg/src/main/scala/io/joern/javasrc2cpg/typesolvers/noncaching/JdkJarTypeSolver.scala
@@ -162,6 +162,9 @@ object JdkJarTypeSolver {
 
   def fromJdkPath(jdkPath: String): JdkJarTypeSolver = {
     val jarPaths = SourceFiles.determine(jdkPath, Set(JarExtension, JmodExtension))
+    if (jarPaths.isEmpty) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(s"No .jar or .jmod files found at JDK path ${jdkPath}")
+    }
     new JdkJarTypeSolver(jdkPath).withJars(jarPaths)
   }