diff --git a/hack/verify-golint.sh b/hack/verify-golint.sh
index c6f7022bd96..bbed8ceeb89 100755
--- a/hack/verify-golint.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-golint.sh
@@ -69,7 +69,13 @@ for p in "${all_packages[@]}"; do
   # completely.
   # Ref: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/67675
   # Ref: https://github.com/golang/lint/issues/68
-  failedLint=$(find "$p"/*.go | grep -vE "(zz_generated.*.go|generated.pb.go|generated.proto|types_swagger_doc_generated.go)" | xargs -L1 golint 2>/dev/null)
+
+  files=$(find "$p"/*.go \
+      | grep -vE "(zz_generated.*.go|generated.pb.go|generated.proto|types_swagger_doc_generated.go)" || true)
+  if [ -z "${files}" ]; then
+      continue
+  fi
+  failedLint=$(echo "${files}" | xargs -L1 golint 2>/dev/null)
   kube::util::array_contains "$p" "${failing_packages[@]}" && in_failing=$? || in_failing=$?
   if [[ -n "${failedLint}" ]] && [[ "${in_failing}" -ne "0" ]]; then
     errors+=( "${failedLint}" )