diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
index b7242f5abd5..c2ba1c20795 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
@@ -287,9 +287,22 @@ func (o *CopyOptions) copyFromPod(src, dest fileSpec) error {
 	}()
 	prefix := getPrefix(src.File)
 	prefix = path.Clean(prefix)
+	// remove extraneous path shortcuts - these could occur if a path contained extra "../"
+	// and attempted to navigate beyond "/" in a remote filesystem
+	prefix = stripPathShortcuts(prefix)
 	return untarAll(reader, dest.File, prefix)
 }
 
+// stripPathShortcuts removes any leading or trailing "../" from a given path
+func stripPathShortcuts(p string) string {
+	newPath := path.Clean(p)
+	if len(newPath) > 0 && string(newPath[0]) == "/" {
+		return newPath[1:]
+	}
+
+	return newPath
+}
+
 func makeTar(srcPath, destPath string, writer io.Writer) error {
 	// TODO: use compression here?
 	tarWriter := tar.NewWriter(writer)