diff --git a/run-k8s-external-storage-e2e.sh b/run-k8s-external-storage-e2e.sh
index 4f219f4d1..fe4a834f6 100755
--- a/run-k8s-external-storage-e2e.sh
+++ b/run-k8s-external-storage-e2e.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ set -e
 curl -LO "https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/${KUBE_VERSION}/kubernetes-test-linux-amd64.tar.gz"
 tar xzf kubernetes-test-linux-amd64.tar.gz kubernetes/test/bin/ginkgo kubernetes/test/bin/e2e.test
 
+# e2e depends on a self-contained KUBECONFIG for some reason
+KUBECONFIG_TMP="$(mktemp -t kubeconfig.XXXXXXXX)"
+kubectl config view --raw --flatten > "${KUBECONFIG_TMP}"
+export KUBECONFIG="${KUBECONFIG_TMP}"
+
 for driver in /opt/build/go/src/github.com/ceph/ceph-csi/scripts/k8s-storage/driver-*.yaml
 do
 	kubernetes/test/bin/ginkgo \