diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
index 5f07d51df3d..68b55bf202e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/kubectl/pkg/cmd/cp/cp.go
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@ package cp
 
 import (
 	"archive/tar"
-	"bytes"
+	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
@@ -267,8 +268,8 @@ func (o *CopyOptions) checkDestinationIsDir(dest fileSpec) error {
 	options := &exec.ExecOptions{
 		StreamOptions: exec.StreamOptions{
 			IOStreams: genericiooptions.IOStreams{
-				Out:    bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{}),
-				ErrOut: bytes.NewBuffer([]byte{}),
+				Out:    io.Discard,
+				ErrOut: io.Discard,
 			},
 
 			Namespace: dest.PodNamespace,
@@ -279,7 +280,21 @@ func (o *CopyOptions) checkDestinationIsDir(dest fileSpec) error {
 		Executor: &exec.DefaultRemoteExecutor{},
 	}
 
-	return o.execute(options)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	done := make(chan error)
+
+	go func() {
+		done <- o.execute(options)
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		return ctx.Err()
+	case err := <-done:
+		return err
+	}
 }
 
 func (o *CopyOptions) copyToPod(src, dest fileSpec, options *exec.ExecOptions) error {
@@ -295,6 +310,10 @@ func (o *CopyOptions) copyToPod(src, dest fileSpec, options *exec.ExecOptions) e
 		// If no error, dest.File was found to be a directory.
 		// Copy specified src into it
 		destFile = destFile.Join(srcFile.Base())
+	} else if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+		// we haven't decided destination is directory or not because context timeout is exceeded.
+		// That's why, we should shortcut the process in here.
+		return err
 	}
 
 	go func(src localPath, dest remotePath, writer io.WriteCloser) {