diff --git a/hack/utils.sh b/hack/utils.sh
index f75678a17..98ee4b767 100755
--- a/hack/utils.sh
+++ b/hack/utils.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 ROOT="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"/..
 
 # Not from vendor.conf.
-CRITOOL_VERSION=89384cc13a27bb9128553c9fe75a7cc07c6a95bb
+CRITOOL_VERSION=${CRITOOL_VERSION:-89384cc13a27bb9128553c9fe75a7cc07c6a95bb}
 CRITOOL_PKG=github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cri-tools
 CRITOOL_REPO=github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cri-tools