diff --git a/tests/auth/writeoldkey-t b/tests/auth/writeoldkey-t
index 614dcb6031..efb32a1d26 100755
--- a/tests/auth/writeoldkey-t
+++ b/tests/auth/writeoldkey-t
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ use lib $ENV{C_TAP_SOURCE} . "/tests-lib/perl5";
 use afstest qw(src_path obj_path);
 use Test::More;
 use File::Temp qw/tempdir/;
-use Cwd qw/abs_path/;
+use Cwd qw/abs_path getcwd/;
 use File::Compare;
 use Sys::Hostname;
 use Socket;
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ $cmd = abs_path($cmd);
 my $keyfile = src_path("tests/auth/KeyFile.short");
 $keyfile = abs_path($keyfile);
 
+my $origdir = getcwd();
 my $dir = tempdir('afs_XXXXXX', CLEANUP => 1);
 
 chdir($dir)
@@ -37,3 +38,7 @@ system($cmd) == 0
 
 ok(compare("KeyFile", $keyfile) == 0,
    "writekeyfile generates expected KeyFile");
+
+# The cleanup handler needs to run in the original directory.
+chdir($origdir)
+    or die("chdir $origdir failed: $?");