diff --git a/projects/aws/upgrader/upgrade.sh b/projects/aws/upgrader/upgrade.sh
index d6d70d920b..7e0424c1c2 100755
--- a/projects/aws/upgrader/upgrade.sh
+++ b/projects/aws/upgrader/upgrade.sh
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ kubelet_and_kubectl() {
 
 update_kubelet_extra_args() {
   kubelet_conf="/etc/sysconfig/kubelet"
-  if [ ! -f kubelet_conf ]; then
+  if [ ! -f ${kubelet_conf} ]; then
     echo "kubelet config file ${kubelet_conf} not found, skipping"
     return
   fi