diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
index 828dab9c7d7..8e6535edda7 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package apiclient
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -346,7 +347,13 @@ func GetConfigMapWithShortRetry(client clientset.Interface, namespace, name stri
 			if err == nil {
 				return true, nil
 			}
-			lastError = err
+			// If some code is about to go over the context deadline, "x/time/rate/rate.go" would return
+			// and untyped error with the string "would exceed context deadline". If some code already exceeded
+			// the deadline the error would be of type DeadlineExceeded. Ignore such context errors and only store
+			// API and connectivity errors.
+			if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "would exceed context deadline") && !errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+				lastError = err
+			}
 			return false, nil
 		})
 	if err == nil {
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
index 9a9e3f18f64..19c8de2a74e 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/apiclient/idempotency_test.go
@@ -237,3 +237,54 @@ func TestMutateConfigMapWithConflict(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("ConfigMap mutation with conflict was invalid, has: %q", cm.Data["key"])
 	}
 }
+
+func TestGetConfigMapWithShortRetry(t *testing.T) {
+	testcases := []struct {
+		name           string
+		reactorFunc    func(core.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error)
+		errorCheckFunc func(*testing.T, error)
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "context deadline exceeded error is handled",
+			reactorFunc: func(core.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+				return true, nil, context.DeadlineExceeded
+			},
+			errorCheckFunc: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+				}
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "would exceed context deadline error is handled",
+			reactorFunc: func(core.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+				return true, nil, errors.New("Wait returned an error: rate: Wait(n=1) would exceed context deadline")
+			},
+			errorCheckFunc: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+				}
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "API error is not handled",
+			reactorFunc: func(core.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+				return true, nil, apierrors.NewNotFound(schema.GroupResource{}, "")
+			},
+			errorCheckFunc: func(t *testing.T, err error) {
+				if !apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+					t.Errorf("expected error: IsNotFound, got: %v", err)
+				}
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testcases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			client := fake.NewSimpleClientset()
+			client.PrependReactor("get", "configmaps", tc.reactorFunc)
+			_, err := GetConfigMapWithShortRetry(client, "foo", "bar")
+			tc.errorCheckFunc(t, err)
+		})
+	}
+}