diff --git a/e2e/openssl/openssl_test.go b/e2e/openssl/openssl_test.go
index c8dbc7e7b..65db29e02 100644
--- a/e2e/openssl/openssl_test.go
+++ b/e2e/openssl/openssl_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package openssl
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 // namespace the tests are executed in.
-const namespace = "openssl"
+const namespaceEnv = "K8S_NAMESPACE"
 
 /*
 This tests an OpenSSL deployment on Nunki.
@@ -33,6 +34,9 @@ func TestOpenssl(t *testing.T) {
 
 	c := kubeclient.NewForTest(t)
 
+	namespace := os.Getenv(namespaceEnv)
+	require.NotEmpty(namespace, "environment variable %q must be set", namespaceEnv)
+
 	frontendPods, err := c.PodsFromDeployment(context.Background(), namespace, "openssl-frontend")
 	require.NoError(err)
 	require.Len(frontendPods, 1)