diff --git a/hack/verify-vendor.sh b/hack/verify-vendor.sh
index 91caaef4195..0fea7224a7f 100755
--- a/hack/verify-vendor.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-vendor.sh
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 kube::golang::setup_env
 
 # create a nice clean place to put our new vendor tree
-mkdir -p "${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp"
-_tmpdir="$(mktemp -d "${KUBE_ROOT}/_tmp/kube-vendor.XXXXXX")"
+_tmpdir="$(kube::realpath "$(mktemp -d -t "$(basename "$0").XXXXXX")")"
 
 if [[ -z ${KEEP_TMP:-} ]]; then
     KEEP_TMP=false