diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation.go
index ceeeb042e8e..18cf2680a55 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation.go
@@ -167,7 +167,8 @@ func ConfirmUsable(config clientcmdapi.Config, passedContextName string) error {
 func validateClusterInfo(clusterName string, clusterInfo clientcmdapi.Cluster) []error {
 	validationErrors := make([]error, 0)
 
-	if reflect.DeepEqual(clientcmdapi.Cluster{}, clusterInfo) {
+	emptyCluster := clientcmdapi.NewCluster()
+	if reflect.DeepEqual(*emptyCluster, clusterInfo) {
 		return []error{ErrEmptyCluster}
 	}
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation_test.go
index ab7dc268519..6441f148376 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/validation_test.go
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func TestValidateEmptyContext(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestValidateEmptyClusterInfo(t *testing.T) {
 	config := clientcmdapi.NewConfig()
-	config.Clusters["empty"] = &clientcmdapi.Cluster{}
+	config.Clusters["empty"] = clientcmdapi.NewCluster()
 	test := configValidationTest{
 		config:                 config,
 		expectedErrorSubstring: []string{"cluster has no server defined"},
@@ -196,6 +196,19 @@ func TestValidateEmptyClusterInfo(t *testing.T) {
 	test.testCluster("empty", t)
 	test.testConfig(t)
 }
+
+func TestValidateClusterInfoErrEmptyCluster(t *testing.T) {
+	cluster := clientcmdapi.NewCluster()
+	errs := validateClusterInfo("", *cluster)
+
+	if len(errs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected errors: %v", errs)
+	}
+	if errs[0] != ErrEmptyCluster {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", errs[0])
+	}
+}
+
 func TestValidateMissingCAFileClusterInfo(t *testing.T) {
 	config := clientcmdapi.NewConfig()
 	config.Clusters["missing ca"] = &clientcmdapi.Cluster{