diff --git a/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_suite_test.go b/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_suite_test.go
index 393c9971b..eb73c3b98 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_suite_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_suite_test.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ var (
 	expectedRegistry      = env.Get("EXPECTED_REGISTRY", "^docker\\.io|^gcr\\.io")
 	multicluster          = env.GetBool("MULTICLUSTER", false)
 	keepOnFailure         = env.GetBool("KEEP_ON_FAILURE", false)
+	fipsCluster           = env.GetBool("FIPS_CLUSTER", false)
 
 	k kubectl.Kubectl
 )
diff --git a/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_test.go b/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_test.go
index 07f97cc9f..94cca62a7 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/ambient/ambient_test.go
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ var _ = Describe("Ambient configuration ", Label("smoke", "ambient"), Ordered, f
 				continue
 			}
 
+			// FIPS clusters do not support ambient mode for versions below 1.28
+			if fipsCluster && version.Version.LessThan(semver.MustParse("1.28.0")) {
+				continue
+			}
+
 			Context(fmt.Sprintf("Istio version %s", version.Version), func() {
 				clr := cleaner.New(cl)
 				BeforeAll(func(ctx SpecContext) {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh b/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
index e669bccb6..6adf5c4fc 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/common-operator-integ-suite.sh
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ if [ "${SKIP_BUILD}" == "false" ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
-export SKIP_DEPLOY IP_FAMILY ISTIO_MANIFEST NAMESPACE CONTROL_PLANE_NS DEPLOYMENT_NAME MULTICLUSTER ARTIFACTS ISTIO_NAME COMMAND KUBECONFIG ISTIOCTL_PATH GINKGO_FLAGS
+export SKIP_DEPLOY IP_FAMILY ISTIO_MANIFEST NAMESPACE CONTROL_PLANE_NS DEPLOYMENT_NAME MULTICLUSTER ARTIFACTS ISTIO_NAME COMMAND KUBECONFIG ISTIOCTL_PATH GINKGO_FLAGS FIPS_CLUSTER
 
 if [ "${OLM}" != "true" ] && [ "${SKIP_DEPLOY}" != "true" ]; then
   # shellcheck disable=SC2153