diff --git "a/examples/playbooks/with-umlaut-\303\244.yml" "b/examples/playbooks/with-umlaut-\303\244.yml"
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a18e9422f
--- /dev/null
+++ "b/examples/playbooks/with-umlaut-\303\244.yml"
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+- hosts:
+  - localhost
+  roles:
+  - name: node
diff --git a/src/ansiblelint/file_utils.py b/src/ansiblelint/file_utils.py
index dbc22084b4..dd2e24aef0 100644
--- a/src/ansiblelint/file_utils.py
+++ b/src/ansiblelint/file_utils.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def __repr__(self) -> str:
 def get_yaml_files(options: Namespace) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     """Find all yaml files."""
     # git is preferred as it also considers .gitignore
-    git_command = ['git', 'ls-files', '*.yaml', '*.yml']
+    git_command = ['git', 'ls-files', '-z', '*.yaml', '*.yml']
     _logger.info("Discovering files to lint: %s", ' '.join(git_command))
 
     out = None
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ def get_yaml_files(options: Namespace) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     try:
         out = subprocess.check_output(
             git_command, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, universal_newlines=True
-        ).splitlines()
+        ).split("\x00")[:-1]
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
         _logger.warning(
             "Failed to discover yaml files to lint using git: %s",
diff --git a/src/ansiblelint/testing/__init__.py b/src/ansiblelint/testing/__init__.py
index 39984f0a07..4566a4a3df 100644
--- a/src/ansiblelint/testing/__init__.py
+++ b/src/ansiblelint/testing/__init__.py
@@ -98,12 +98,11 @@ def run_ansible_lint(
 
     if env is None:
         _env = {}
-        for v in safe_list:
-            if v in os.environ:
-                _env[v] = os.environ[v]
-
     else:
         _env = env
+    for v in safe_list:
+        if v in os.environ and v not in _env:
+            _env[v] = os.environ[v]
 
     return subprocess.run(
         args,
diff --git a/test/TestUtils.py b/test/TestUtils.py
index 966281e056..bf4102a677 100644
--- a/test/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/TestUtils.py
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ def test_get_yaml_files_git_verbose(reset_env_var, message_prefix, monkeypatch,
     expected_info = (
         "ansiblelint",
         logging.INFO,
-        'Discovering files to lint: git ls-files *.yaml *.yml',
+        'Discovering files to lint: git ls-files -z *.yaml *.yml',
     )
 
     assert expected_info in caplog.record_tuples
@@ -267,6 +267,18 @@ def test_get_yaml_files_silent(is_in_git, monkeypatch, capsys):
     )
 
 
+def test_get_yaml_files_umlaut(monkeypatch):
+    """Verify that filenames containing German umlauts are not garbled by the get_yaml_files."""
+    options = cli.get_config([])
+    test_dir = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
+    lint_path = test_dir / '..' / 'examples' / 'playbooks'
+
+    monkeypatch.chdir(str(lint_path))
+    files = file_utils.get_yaml_files(options)
+    assert '"with-umlaut-\\303\\244.yml"' not in files
+    assert 'with-umlaut-ä.yml' in files
+
+
 def test_logger_debug(caplog):
     """Test that the double verbosity arg causes logger to be DEBUG."""
     options = cli.get_config(['-vv'])
@@ -300,7 +312,7 @@ def test_cli_auto_detect(capfd):
     out, err = capfd.readouterr()
 
     # Confirmation that it runs in auto-detect mode
-    assert "Discovering files to lint: git ls-files *.yaml *.yml" in err
+    assert "Discovering files to lint: git ls-files -z *.yaml *.yml" in err
     # An expected rule match from our examples
     assert (
         "examples/playbooks/empty_playbook.yml:0: "