diff --git a/test/e2e_node/eviction_test.go b/test/e2e_node/eviction_test.go
index ab5a315a87c..0623848d5be 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/eviction_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/eviction_test.go
@@ -257,6 +257,9 @@ var _ = SIGDescribe("LocalStorageCapacityIsolationMemoryBackedVolumeEviction [Sl
 		tempSetCurrentKubeletConfig(f, func(ctx context.Context, initialConfig *kubeletconfig.KubeletConfiguration) {
 			// setting a threshold to 0% disables; non-empty map overrides default value (necessary due to omitempty)
 			initialConfig.EvictionHard = map[string]string{string(evictionapi.SignalMemoryAvailable): "0%"}
+			if initialConfig.FeatureGates == nil {
+				initialConfig.FeatureGates = make(map[string]bool)
+			}
 			initialConfig.FeatureGates["SizeMemoryBackedVolumes"] = false
 		})