diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 355fc6afa1..af54a8bdea 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ GO_VERSION ?= 1.16.7
 # Kubernetes uses k8s version in golang image version because:
 # https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/103692#issuecomment-908659826
 # TODO: make automation update this #12374
-K8S_GO_VERSION ?= v1.23.0
+GO_K8S_VERSION_PREFIX ?= v1.23.0
 
 # replace "x.y.0" => "x.y". kube-cross and golang.org/dl use different formats for x.y.0 go versions
 KVM_GO_VERSION ?= $(GO_VERSION:.0=)
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ HYPERKIT_BUILD_IMAGE 	?= neilotoole/xcgo:go1.15
 # https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
 #
 
-BUILD_IMAGE 	?= us.gcr.io/k8s-artifacts-prod/build-image/kube-cross:v1.23.0-go$(GO_VERSION)-buster.0
+BUILD_IMAGE 	?= us.gcr.io/k8s-artifacts-prod/build-image/kube-cross:$(GO_K8S_VERSION_PREFIX)-go$(GO_VERSION)-buster.0
 
 ISO_BUILD_IMAGE ?= $(REGISTRY)/buildroot-image