diff --git a/hack/make-rules/verify.sh b/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
index 93df92c47e1..7929264ce0c 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/verify.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ QUICK_PATTERNS+=(
   "verify-spelling.sh"
   "verify-staging-client-go.sh"
   "verify-staging-meta-files.sh"
+  "verify-test-featuregates.sh"
   "verify-test-images.sh"
   "verify-test-owners.sh"
 )
diff --git a/hack/verify-test-featuregates.sh b/hack/verify-test-featuregates.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..e801cc53420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/verify-test-featuregates.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Copyright 2018 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
+source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
+
+cd "${KUBE_ROOT}"
+
+rc=0
+
+# find test files accessing the mutable global feature gate or interface
+direct_sets=$(grep -n --include *_test.go -R 'MutableFeatureGate' . 2>/dev/null) || true
+if [[ -n "${direct_sets}" ]]; then
+  echo "Test files may not access mutable global feature gates directly:" >&2
+  echo "${direct_sets}" >&2
+  echo >&2
+  echo "Use this invocation instead:" >&2
+  echo "  defer utilfeaturetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, features.<FeatureName>, <value>)()" >&2
+  echo >&2
+  rc=1
+fi
+
+# find test files calling SetFeatureGateDuringTest and not calling the result
+missing_defers=$(grep -n --include *_test.go -R 'SetFeatureGateDuringTest' . 2>/dev/null | egrep -v "defer .*\\)\\(\\)$") || true
+if [[ -n "${missing_defers}" ]]; then
+  echo "Invalid invocations of utilfeaturetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest():" >&2
+  echo "${missing_defers}" >&2
+  echo >&2
+  echo "Always make a deferred call to the returned function to ensure the feature gate is reset:" >&2
+  echo "  defer utilfeaturetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, features.<FeatureName>, <value>)()" >&2
+  echo >&2
+  rc=1
+fi
+
+exit $rc