diff --git a/hack/update-go-workspace.sh b/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
index 72c6ad905fd..6dcbbffe999 100755
--- a/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
+++ b/hack/update-go-workspace.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ cd "${KUBE_ROOT}"
 # Ensure all modules are included in go.work
 go work edit -use .
 git ls-files -z ':(glob)./staging/src/k8s.io/*/go.mod' \
-    | xargs -0 -n1 dirname -z \
+    | xargs -0 -n1 dirname \
+    | tr '\n' '\0' \
     | xargs -0 -n1 go work edit -use
 go mod download # generate go.work.sum