diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface.go
index 42816bd7059..0ab9b36080b 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface.go
@@ -53,6 +53,28 @@ type RouteFile struct {
 	parse func(input io.Reader) ([]Route, error)
 }
 
+// noRoutesError can be returned by ChooseBindAddress() in case of no routes
+type noRoutesError struct {
+	message string
+}
+
+func (e noRoutesError) Error() string {
+	return e.message
+}
+
+// IsNoRoutesError checks if an error is of type noRoutesError
+func IsNoRoutesError(err error) bool {
+	if err == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	switch err.(type) {
+	case noRoutesError:
+		return true
+	default:
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
 var (
 	v4File = RouteFile{name: ipv4RouteFile, parse: getIPv4DefaultRoutes}
 	v6File = RouteFile{name: ipv6RouteFile, parse: getIPv6DefaultRoutes}
@@ -347,7 +369,9 @@ func getAllDefaultRoutes() ([]Route, error) {
 	v6Routes, _ := v6File.extract()
 	routes = append(routes, v6Routes...)
 	if len(routes) == 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("No default routes.")
+		return nil, noRoutesError{
+			message: fmt.Sprintf("no default routes found in %q or %q", v4File.name, v6File.name),
+		}
 	}
 	return routes, nil
 }
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface_test.go
index 4799d43aea0..d652f479d2c 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net/interface_test.go
@@ -669,7 +669,7 @@ func TestGetAllDefaultRoutes(t *testing.T) {
 		expected   []Route
 		errStrFrag string
 	}{
-		{"no routes", noInternetConnection, v6noDefaultRoutes, 0, nil, "No default routes"},
+		{"no routes", noInternetConnection, v6noDefaultRoutes, 0, nil, "no default routes"},
 		{"only v4 route", gatewayfirst, v6noDefaultRoutes, 1, routeV4, ""},
 		{"only v6 route", noInternetConnection, v6gatewayfirst, 1, routeV6, ""},
 		{"v4 and v6 routes", gatewayfirst, v6gatewayfirst, 2, bothRoutes, ""},