diff --git a/hack/lib/util.sh b/hack/lib/util.sh
index 7ea579e41bb..5719485ab4e 100755
--- a/hack/lib/util.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/util.sh
@@ -702,6 +702,15 @@ function kube::util::require-jq {
   fi
 }
 
+# outputs md5 hash of $1, works on macOS and Linux
+function kube::util::md5() {
+  if which md5 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    md5 -q "$1"
+  else
+    md5sum "$1" | awk '{ print $1 }'
+  fi
+}
+
 # kube::util::read-array
 # Reads in stdin and adds it line by line to the array provided. This can be
 # used instead of "mapfile -t", and is bash 3 compatible.
diff --git a/hack/update-vendor-licenses.sh b/hack/update-vendor-licenses.sh
index 21d7d2f42cf..d9f7d3e0d6b 100755
--- a/hack/update-vendor-licenses.sh
+++ b/hack/update-vendor-licenses.sh
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ echo "= Kubernetes licensed under: ="
 echo
 cat "${LICENSE_ROOT}/LICENSE"
 echo
-echo "= LICENSE $(md5sum < "${LICENSE_ROOT}/LICENSE" | awk '{print $1}')"
+echo "= LICENSE $(kube::util::md5 "${LICENSE_ROOT}/LICENSE")"
 echo "================================================================================"
 ) > ${TMP_LICENSE_FILE}
 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ __EOF__
   cat "${file}"
 
   echo
-  echo "= ${file} $(md5sum < "${file}" | awk '{print $1}')"
+  echo "= ${file} $(kube::util::md5 "${file}")"
   echo "================================================================================"
   echo
 done >> ${TMP_LICENSE_FILE}