diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-74.ssh.sh b/test/units/testsuite-74.ssh.sh
index 70fb9ce56c..5d87d9f7ac 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-74.ssh.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-74.ssh.sh
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ removesshid() {
 ssh-keygen -N '' -C '' -t rsa -f "$ROOTID"
 
 mkdir -p 0700 /root/.ssh
-cat "$ROOTID".pub >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
+# Add a newline in case authorized_keys wasn't terminated correctly.
+echo >>/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
+cat "$ROOTID".pub >>/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
 
 # set root pw to "foo", just to set it to something valid
 # shellcheck disable=SC2016