diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
index d1c66dfd02c..2eb50565203 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/upgrade/node/kubeletconfig.go
@@ -71,6 +71,21 @@ func runKubeletConfigPhase() func(c workflow.RunData) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
+		// Create a copy of the kubelet config file in the /etc/kubernetes/tmp/ folder.
+		backupDir, err := constants.CreateTempDirForKubeadm(constants.KubernetesDir, "kubeadm-kubelet-config")
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		src := filepath.Join(kubeletDir, constants.KubeletConfigurationFileName)
+		dest := filepath.Join(backupDir, constants.KubeletConfigurationFileName)
+		if !dryRun {
+			fmt.Printf("[upgrade] Backing up kubelet config file to %s\n", dest)
+			if err := os.Rename(src, dest); err != nil {
+				return errors.Wrap(err, "error backing up the kubelet config file")
+			}
+		} else {
+			fmt.Printf("[dryrun] Would back up kubelet config file to %s\n", dest)
+		}
 		// Store the kubelet component configuration.
 		if err = kubeletphase.WriteConfigToDisk(&cfg.ClusterConfiguration, kubeletDir, data.PatchesDir(), data.OutputWriter()); err != nil {
 			return err