diff --git a/cluster/addons/node-problem-detector/npd.yaml b/cluster/addons/node-problem-detector/npd.yaml
index 714125ea58c..b25d2066d62 100644
--- a/cluster/addons/node-problem-detector/npd.yaml
+++ b/cluster/addons/node-problem-detector/npd.yaml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ spec:
         - "/bin/sh"
         - "-c"
         # Pass both config to support both journald and syslog.
-        - "/node-problem-detector --logtostderr --system-log-monitors=/config/kernel-monitor.json,/config/kernel-monitor-filelog.json,/config/docker-monitor.json,/config/docker-monitor-filelog.json >>/var/log/node-problem-detector.log 2>&1"
+        - "exec /node-problem-detector --logtostderr --system-log-monitors=/config/kernel-monitor.json,/config/kernel-monitor-filelog.json,/config/docker-monitor.json,/config/docker-monitor-filelog.json >>/var/log/node-problem-detector.log 2>&1"
         securityContext:
           privileged: true
         resources: