diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
index 48aa1691463..b704c820928 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
-	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 )
 
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ var testKnownTargets = []string{
 	"kube-apiserver",
 	"kube-controller-manager",
 	"kube-scheduler",
+	"kubeletconfiguration",
 }
 
 const testDirPattern = "patch-files"
@@ -312,6 +313,21 @@ func TestGetPatchManagerForPath(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "valid: kubeletconfiguration target is patched with json patch",
+			patchTarget: &PatchTarget{
+				Name:                      "kubeletconfiguration",
+				StrategicMergePatchObject: nil,
+				Data:                      []byte("foo: bar\n"),
+			},
+			expectedData: []byte(`{"foo":"zzz"}`),
+			files: []*file{
+				{
+					name: "kubeletconfiguration+json.json",
+					data: `[{"op": "replace", "path": "/foo", "value": "zzz"}]`,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "valid: kube-apiserver target is patched with strategic merge patch",
 			patchTarget: &PatchTarget{