diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index 111a0b2eeb..fb1f49327c 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ do_shared_workdir () {
 	cp .config $kerneldir/
 	mkdir -p $kerneldir/include/config
 	cp include/config/kernel.release $kerneldir/include/config/kernel.release
-	if [ -e certs/signing_key.pem ]; then
+	if [ -e certs/signing_key.x509 ]; then
 		# The signing_key.* files are stored in the certs/ dir in
 		# newer Linux kernels
 		mkdir -p $kerneldir/certs