diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns.go b/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns.go
index cff577bf936..308eb102ea6 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns.go
@@ -267,7 +267,10 @@ func parseResolvConf(reader io.Reader) (nameservers []string, searches []string,
 			// Normalise search fields so the same domain with and without trailing dot will only count once, to avoid hitting search validation limits.
 			searches = []string{}
 			for _, s := range fields[1:] {
-				searches = append(searches, strings.TrimSuffix(s, "."))
+				if s != "." {
+					s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, ".")
+				}
+				searches = append(searches, s)
 			}
 		}
 		if fields[0] == "options" {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns_test.go
index bd634b02af1..261de55c9b4 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/network/dns/dns_test.go
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ func TestParseResolvConf(t *testing.T) {
 		{"nameserver 1.2.3.4\nnameserver 5.6.7.8", []string{"1.2.3.4", "5.6.7.8"}, []string{}, []string{}, false},
 		{"nameserver 1.2.3.4 #comment", []string{"1.2.3.4"}, []string{}, []string{}, false},
 		{"search ", []string{}, []string{}, []string{}, false}, // search empty
+		{"search .", []string{}, []string{"."}, []string{}, false},
 		{"search foo", []string{}, []string{"foo"}, []string{}, false},
 		{"search foo bar", []string{}, []string{"foo", "bar"}, []string{}, false},
 		{"search foo. bar", []string{}, []string{"foo", "bar"}, []string{}, false},