diff --git a/hack/make-rules/test-cmd.sh b/hack/make-rules/test-cmd.sh
index de62051ba73..b48d21782f6 100755
--- a/hack/make-rules/test-cmd.sh
+++ b/hack/make-rules/test-cmd.sh
@@ -130,7 +130,8 @@ if [[ ${WHAT} == "" || ${WHAT} =~ .*kubeadm.* ]] ; then
   export KUBEADM_PATH="${KUBEADM_PATH:=$(kube::realpath "${KUBE_ROOT}")/_output/local/go/bin/kubeadm}"
   # invoke the tests
   make -C "${KUBE_ROOT}" test \
-    WHAT=k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd
+    WHAT=k8s.io/kubernetes/cmd/kubeadm/test/cmd \
+    KUBE_TIMEOUT=--timeout=240s
 
   # if we ONLY want to run kubeadm, then exit here.
   if [[ ${WHAT} == "kubeadm" ]]; then