diff --git a/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl b/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
index 8c8da966c641..a5f7fdd0c1fb 100755
--- a/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
+++ b/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
@@ -4303,6 +4303,14 @@ sub cancel_test {
     if ($opt{"CLEAR_LOG"}) {
 	unlink $opt{"LOG_FILE"};
     }
+
+    if (! -e $opt{"LOG_FILE"} && $opt{"LOG_FILE"} =~ m,^(.*/),) {
+        my $dir = $1;
+        if (! -d $dir) {
+            mkpath($dir) or die "Failed to create directories '$dir': $!";
+            print "\nThe log directory $dir did not exist, so it was created.\n";
+        }
+    }
     open(LOG, ">> $opt{LOG_FILE}") or die "Can't write to $opt{LOG_FILE}";
     LOG->autoflush(1);
 }