diff --git a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
index 0f1b98298b285..87d9c2f89b87e 100755
--- a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export KUBECTL KUBE_CONFIG_FILE
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
 
 # ---- Do cloud-provider-specific setup
-if [[ -z "$AUTH_CONFIG" ]];  then
+if [[ -z "${AUTH_CONFIG:-}" ]];  then
     echo "Setting up for KUBERNETES_PROVIDER=\"${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}\"."
 
     source "${KUBE_VERSION_ROOT}/cluster/${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}/util.sh"