diff --git a/hack/build-image.sh b/hack/build-image.sh
index 2f541a793fc2..d8d4c620c042 100755
--- a/hack/build-image.sh
+++ b/hack/build-image.sh
@@ -16,6 +16,12 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# make git available
+if ! [ -x "$(command -v git)" ]; then
+  echo "Installing git ..."
+  yum install -y git
+fi
+
 # in CI, make use of the registry mirror to avoid getting rate limited
 if [ -n "${DOCKER_REGISTRY_MIRROR_ADDR:-}" ]; then
   # remove "http://" or "https://" prefix