diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/targets/sdk/make.defaults b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/targets/sdk/make.defaults
index 8713254e09..676b831a14 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/targets/sdk/make.defaults
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/targets/sdk/make.defaults
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
 USE="-pam"
+
+# Used by some old goo in profiles/coreos/base/profile.bashrc
+# TODO: clean up that old goo
+CROS_SDK_HOST="cros-sdk-host"