diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
index fcadee49270..90128f472d7 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/kubeconfig/kubeconfig.go
@@ -224,7 +224,13 @@ func validateKubeConfig(outDir, filename string, config *clientcmdapi.Config) er
 	expectedCtx := config.CurrentContext
 	expectedCluster := config.Contexts[expectedCtx].Cluster
 	currentCtx := currentConfig.CurrentContext
+	if currentConfig.Contexts[currentCtx] == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("failed to find CurrentContext in Contexts of the kubeconfig file %s", kubeConfigFilePath)
+	}
 	currentCluster := currentConfig.Contexts[currentCtx].Cluster
+	if currentConfig.Clusters[currentCluster] == nil {
+		return errors.Errorf("failed to find the given CurrentContext Cluster in Clusters of the kubeconfig file %s", kubeConfigFilePath)
+	}
 
 	// If the current CA cert on disk doesn't match the expected CA cert, error out because we have a file, but it's stale
 	if !bytes.Equal(currentConfig.Clusters[currentCluster].CertificateAuthorityData, config.Clusters[expectedCluster].CertificateAuthorityData) {