diff --git a/hack/make-rules/test-e2e-node.sh b/hack/make-rules/test-e2e-node.sh
index 0b8efff34ea..ec8f663a994 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/test-e2e-node.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/test-e2e-node.sh
@@ -154,10 +154,17 @@ if [ "${remote}" = true ] ; then
   exit $?
 
 else
-  # Refresh sudo credentials for local run
-  if ! ping -c 1 -q metadata.google.internal &> /dev/null; then
-    echo "Updating sudo credentials"
-    sudo -v || exit 1
+  # Refresh sudo credentials if needed
+  if ping -c 1 -q metadata.google.internal &> /dev/null; then
+    echo 'Running on CGE, not asking for sudo credentials'
+  elif sudo --non-interactive "$(which bash)" -c true 2> /dev/null; then
+    # if we can run bash without a password, it's a pretty safe bet that either
+    # we can run any command without a password, or that sudo credentials
+    # are already cached - and they've just been re-cached
+    echo 'No need to refresh sudo credentials'
+  else
+    echo 'Updating sudo credentials'
+    sudo --validate || exit 1
   fi
 
   # Do not use any network plugin by default. User could override the flags with
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/conformance/run_test.sh b/test/e2e_node/conformance/run_test.sh
index cd7e2684fcc..5d4dd4a4611 100755
--- a/test/e2e_node/conformance/run_test.sh
+++ b/test/e2e_node/conformance/run_test.sh
@@ -24,9 +24,17 @@
 # TODO(random-liu): Use standard tool to start kubelet in production way (such
 # as systemd, supervisord etc.)
 
-# Refresh sudo credentials if not running on GCE.
-if ! ping -c 1 -q metadata.google.internal &> /dev/null; then
-  sudo -v || exit 1
+# Refresh sudo credentials if needed
+if ping -c 1 -q metadata.google.internal &> /dev/null; then
+  echo 'Running on CGE, not asking for sudo credentials'
+elif sudo --non-interactive "$(which bash)" -c true 2> /dev/null; then
+  # if we can run bash without a password, it's a pretty safe bet that either
+  # we can run any command without a password, or that sudo credentials
+  # are already cached - and they've just been re-cached
+  echo 'No need to refresh sudo credentials'
+else
+  echo 'Updating sudo credentials'
+  sudo --validate || exit 1
 fi
 
 # FOCUS is ginkgo focus to select which tests to run. By default, FOCUS is
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go b/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
index a15631ec798..2be3d1ed6f4 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/node_container_manager_test.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func setDesiredConfiguration(initialConfig *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration)
 var _ = framework.KubeDescribe("Node Container Manager [Serial]", func() {
 	f := framework.NewDefaultFramework("node-container-manager")
 	Describe("Validate Node Allocatable [NodeFeature:NodeAllocatable]", func() {
-		It("set's up the node and runs the test", func() {
+		It("sets up the node and runs the test", func() {
 			framework.ExpectNoError(runTest(f))
 		})
 	})