diff --git a/vendor.conf b/vendor.conf
index e0be7fe84..93eaf6147 100644
--- a/vendor.conf
+++ b/vendor.conf
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ github.com/containerd/fifo fbfb6a11ec671efbe94ad1c12c2e98773f19e1e6
 github.com/containernetworking/cni v0.6.0
 github.com/containernetworking/plugins v0.6.0
 github.com/coreos/go-systemd 48702e0da86bd25e76cfef347e2adeb434a0d0a6
-github.com/cri-o/ocicni 73f1309d6bc5c3eac78c1382408921cd771ff22e
+github.com/cri-o/ocicni fc9c77cc55795c09bf1f74b2afd92078a793a69e
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0
 github.com/docker/distribution b38e5838b7b2f2ad48e06ec4b500011976080621
 github.com/docker/docker cc4da8112814cdbb00dbf23370f9ed764383de1f
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/cri-o/ocicni/pkg/ocicni/ocicni.go b/vendor/github.com/cri-o/ocicni/pkg/ocicni/ocicni.go
index 03918bfa4..f1a973bdb 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/cri-o/ocicni/pkg/ocicni/ocicni.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/cri-o/ocicni/pkg/ocicni/ocicni.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package ocicni
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
@@ -158,6 +159,11 @@ func InitCNI(pluginDir string, cniDirs ...string) (CNIPlugin, error) {
 			return &cniNoOp{}, nil
 		}
 
+		// Fail loudly if plugin directory doesn't exist, because fsnotify watcher
+		// won't be able to watch it.
+		if _, err := os.Stat(pluginDir); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 		// We do not have a default network, we start the monitoring thread.
 		go plugin.monitorNetDir()
 	}