diff --git a/bin/cowrie b/bin/cowrie
index 221d337b..cbf93320 100755
--- a/bin/cowrie
+++ b/bin/cowrie
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ cowrie_start() {
 
     #Automatically check if the authbind is enabled or not
     authfile="/etc/authbind/byport/22"
-    if [ -x authfile ]; then
+    if [ -x "$authfile" ]; then
         AUTHBIND_ENABLED=yes
     else
         AUTHBIND_ENABLED=no