diff --git a/common/libnetwork/cni/cni_conversion.go b/common/libnetwork/cni/cni_conversion.go
index c7a37ef6ab..6e4514b992 100644
--- a/common/libnetwork/cni/cni_conversion.go
+++ b/common/libnetwork/cni/cni_conversion.go
@@ -327,6 +327,9 @@ func (n *cniNetwork) createCNIConfigListFromNetwork(network *types.Network, writ
 	}
 	cniPathName := ""
 	if writeToDisk {
+		if err := os.MkdirAll(n.cniConfigDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+			return nil, "", err
+		}
 		cniPathName = filepath.Join(n.cniConfigDir, network.Name+".conflist")
 		err = os.WriteFile(cniPathName, b, 0o644)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/common/libnetwork/cni/config_test.go b/common/libnetwork/cni/config_test.go
index 1b39a8c7ea..4ea1387983 100644
--- a/common/libnetwork/cni/config_test.go
+++ b/common/libnetwork/cni/config_test.go
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ var _ = Describe("Config", func() {
 		})
 
 		It("create two networks", func() {
+			// remove the dir here since we do not expect it to exists in the real context as well
+			// the backend will create it for us
+			os.RemoveAll(cniConfDir)
+
 			network := types.Network{}
 			network1, err := libpodNet.NetworkCreate(network, nil)
 			Expect(err).To(BeNil())
diff --git a/common/libnetwork/cni/network.go b/common/libnetwork/cni/network.go
index ad0f10166a..80b04a3c82 100644
--- a/common/libnetwork/cni/network.go
+++ b/common/libnetwork/cni/network.go
@@ -141,11 +141,15 @@ func (n *cniNetwork) DefaultNetworkName() string {
 
 func (n *cniNetwork) loadNetworks() error {
 	// check the mod time of the config dir
+	var modTime time.Time
 	f, err := os.Stat(n.cniConfigDir)
-	if err != nil {
+	// ignore error if the file does not exists
+	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
 		return err
 	}
-	modTime := f.ModTime()
+	if err == nil {
+		modTime = f.ModTime()
+	}
 
 	// skip loading networks if they are already loaded and
 	// if the config dir was not modified since the last call