diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/certs_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/certs_test.go
index 8dff90ad8e2..3b50a6babe4 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/certs_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/certs_test.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"crypto"
 	"crypto/x509"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ func TestRunRenewCommands(t *testing.T) {
 			if len(test.Args) > 0 {
 				args = test.Args + " " + args
 			}
-			err := cmdtestutil.RunSubCommand(t, renewCmds, test.command, args)
+			err := cmdtestutil.RunSubCommand(t, renewCmds, test.command, io.Discard, args)
 			// certs renew doesn't support positional Args
 			if (err != nil) != test.expectedError {
 				t.Errorf("failed to run renew commands, expected error: %t, actual error: %v", test.expectedError, err)
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd/util.go b/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd/util.go
index d48e82d1646..7edb9cbf783 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd/util.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd/util.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package kubeadm
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"testing"
@@ -50,8 +51,9 @@ func RunCmd(command string, args ...string) (string, string, int, error) {
 }
 
 // RunSubCommand is a utility function for kubeadm testing that executes a Cobra sub command
-func RunSubCommand(t *testing.T, subCmds []*cobra.Command, command string, args ...string) error {
+func RunSubCommand(t *testing.T, subCmds []*cobra.Command, command string, output io.Writer, args ...string) error {
 	subCmd := getSubCommand(t, subCmds, command)
+	subCmd.SetOut(output)
 	subCmd.SetArgs(args)
 	if err := subCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
 		return err