diff --git a/hack/.staticcheck_failures b/hack/.staticcheck_failures
index e2ddb3ac417..0ffb849ad82 100644
--- a/hack/.staticcheck_failures
+++ b/hack/.staticcheck_failures
@@ -103,10 +103,7 @@ vendor/k8s.io/client-go/restmapper
 vendor/k8s.io/client-go/tools/leaderelection
 vendor/k8s.io/client-go/transport
 vendor/k8s.io/component-base/metrics
-vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/certificates
-vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config
 vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/edit
-vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/exec
 vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/get
 vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/proxy
 vendor/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/rollingupdate
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/certificates/certificates.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/certificates/certificates.go
index 5c6e6a380d3..9bd539b5f19 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/certificates/certificates.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/certificates/certificates.go
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ func (o *CertificateOptions) modifyCertificateCondition(builder *resource.Builde
 			csr := info.Object.(*certificatesv1beta1.CertificateSigningRequest)
 			csr, hasCondition := modify(csr)
 			if !hasCondition || force {
-				csr, err = clientSet.CertificateSigningRequests().UpdateApproval(csr)
+				_, err = clientSet.CertificateSigningRequests().UpdateApproval(csr)
 				if errors.IsConflict(err) && i < 10 {
 					if err := info.Get(); err != nil {
 						return err
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
index 5d08fbc834f..3bc18f18ea6 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/create_authinfo.go
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ import (
 type createAuthInfoOptions struct {
 	configAccess      clientcmd.ConfigAccess
 	name              string
-	authPath          cliflag.StringFlag
 	clientCertificate cliflag.StringFlag
 	clientKey         cliflag.StringFlag
 	token             cliflag.StringFlag
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/navigation_step_parser.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/navigation_step_parser.go
index 0899589ad37..59587ddb924 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/navigation_step_parser.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/navigation_step_parser.go
@@ -92,13 +92,6 @@ func (s *navigationSteps) pop() navigationStep {
 	return navigationStep{}
 }
 
-func (s *navigationSteps) peek() navigationStep {
-	if s.moreStepsRemaining() {
-		return s.steps[s.currentStepIndex]
-	}
-	return navigationStep{}
-}
-
 func (s *navigationSteps) moreStepsRemaining() bool {
 	return len(s.steps) > s.currentStepIndex
 }
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/unset_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/unset_test.go
index ea282a4d993..3af5487a778 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/unset_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/unset_test.go
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ func (test unsetConfigTest) run(t *testing.T) {
 	if err == nil {
 		err = opts.run(buf)
 	}
+	if test.expectedErr == "" && err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
 	config, err := clientcmd.LoadFromFile(fakeKubeFile.Name())
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error loading kubeconfig file: %v", err)
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/view.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/view.go
index 85aef2d4300..356eac55d9d 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/view.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/config/view.go
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@ var (
 
 		# Get the password for the e2e user
 		kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.users[?(@.name == "e2e")].user.password}'`)
-
-	defaultOutputFormat = "yaml"
 )
 
 // NewCmdConfigView returns a Command instance for 'config view' sub command
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/exec/exec_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/exec/exec_test.go
index fc94ec3fe21..74944e245bd 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/exec/exec_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/exec/exec_test.go
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ func TestPodAndContainer(t *testing.T) {
 			options.ErrOut = bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{})
 			options.Out = bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{})
 			err = options.Complete(tf, cmd, test.args, test.argsLenAtDash)
+			if !test.expectError && err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("%s: unexpected error: %v", test.name, err)
+			}
 			err = options.Validate()
 
 			if test.expectError && err == nil {
@@ -160,7 +163,7 @@ func TestPodAndContainer(t *testing.T) {
 				return
 			}
 
-			pod, err := options.ExecutablePodFn(tf, test.obj, defaultPodExecTimeout)
+			pod, _ := options.ExecutablePodFn(tf, test.obj, defaultPodExecTimeout)
 			if pod.Name != test.expectedPod {
 				t.Errorf("%s: expected: %s, got: %s", test.name, test.expectedPod, options.PodName)
 			}