diff --git a/easyrsa3/easyrsa b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
index 76d3e70..ea7725b 100755
--- a/easyrsa3/easyrsa
+++ b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ and initialize a fresh PKI here."
 			soft)
 				files="ca.crt certs_by_serial ecparams index.txt index.txt.attr index.txt.old issued private reqs serial serial.old"
 				for i in $files; do
-					rm -rf "$EASYRSA_PKI/$i" || die "Removal of PKI dir failed. Check/correct errors above"
+					rm -rf "${EASYRSA_PKI:?}/$i" || die "Removal of PKI dir failed. Check/correct errors above"
 				done
 				;;
 			# More modes could be added here, e.g. only remove