diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches.go
index 3b1ad23d0e3..fa0ca9fabd3 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches.go
@@ -283,7 +283,11 @@ func getPatchSetsFromPath(targetPath string, knownTargets []string, output io.Wr
 		goto return_path_error
 	}
 	if !info.IsDir() {
-		err = errors.New("not a directory")
+		err = &os.PathError{
+			Op:   "getPatchSetsFromPath",
+			Path: info.Name(),
+			Err:  errors.New("not a directory"),
+		}
 		goto return_path_error
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
index 7d2e8f18a67..eab7907d539 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/patches/patches_test.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 )
@@ -165,15 +166,16 @@ func TestCreatePatchSet(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestGetPatchSetsForPathMustBeDirectory(t *testing.T) {
-	tempFile, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "test-file")
+	tempFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", "test-file")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("error creating temporary file: %v", err)
 	}
 	defer os.Remove(tempFile.Name())
 
 	_, _, _, err = getPatchSetsFromPath(tempFile.Name(), testKnownTargets, ioutil.Discard)
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatalf("expected error for non-directory path %q", tempFile.Name())
+	var pathErr *os.PathError
+	if !errors.As(err, &pathErr) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected os.PathError for non-directory path %q, but got %v", tempFile.Name(), err)
 	}
 }