diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/reset.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/reset.go
index 23f2bf62a1c..66a64e2cdf8 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/reset.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/reset.go
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func newResetData(cmd *cobra.Command, opts *resetOptions, in io.Reader, out io.W
 		certificatesDir = opts.externalcfg.CertificatesDir
 	} else if len(resetCfg.CertificatesDir) > 0 { // configured in the ResetConfiguration
 		certificatesDir = resetCfg.CertificatesDir
-	} else if len(initCfg.ClusterConfiguration.CertificatesDir) > 0 { // fetch from cluster
+	} else if initCfg != nil && len(initCfg.ClusterConfiguration.CertificatesDir) > 0 { // fetch from cluster
 		certificatesDir = initCfg.ClusterConfiguration.CertificatesDir
 	}