diff --git a/hack/update-vendor.sh b/hack/update-vendor.sh
index 0c8dd87bb01..4aac59bb900 100755
--- a/hack/update-vendor.sh
+++ b/hack/update-vendor.sh
@@ -296,6 +296,14 @@ done
 echo "=== tidying root" >> "${LOG_FILE}"
 go mod tidy >>"${LOG_FILE}" 2>&1
 
+# disallow transitive dependencies on k8s.io/kubernetes
+loopback_deps=()
+kube::util::read-array loopback_deps < <(go mod graph | grep ' k8s.io/kubernetes')
+if [[ -n ${loopback_deps[*]:+"${loopback_deps[*]}"} ]]; then
+  kube::log::error "Disallowed transitive k8s.io/kubernetes dependencies exist via the following imports:"
+  kube::log::error "${loopback_deps[@]}"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
 # Phase 6: add generated comments to go.mod files
 kube::log::status "go.mod: adding generated comments"