diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
index 53444b056e6..34703739bc9 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp.go
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ func makeTar(filepath string, writer io.Writer) error {
 	// TODO: use compression here?
 	tarWriter := tar.NewWriter(writer)
 	defer tarWriter.Close()
+
+	filepath = path.Clean(filepath)
 	return recursiveTar(path.Dir(filepath), path.Base(filepath), tarWriter)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp_test.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp_test.go
index 0494fc78e2f..7f2cdd3ea56 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/cp_test.go
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ func TestTarUntar(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v | %v", err, err2)
 		t.FailNow()
 	}
+	dir = dir + "/"
 	defer func() {
 		if err := os.RemoveAll(dir); err != nil {
 			t.Errorf("Unexpected error cleaning up: %v", err)