diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
index 1988857610f..f47347482f6 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/basic.py
@@ -1069,7 +1069,7 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):
 
         if path_prefix:
             kwargs['env'] = env
-        if cwd:
+        if cwd and os.path.isdir(cwd):
             kwargs['cwd'] = cwd