diff --git a/20-zipl-kernel.install b/20-zipl-kernel.install
index 99bfcb9..3487aa2 100755
--- a/20-zipl-kernel.install
+++ b/20-zipl-kernel.install
@@ -132,8 +132,12 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
                 fi
 	    fi
 
-            if [ -n "$NEWDEFAULT" ]; then
-                sed -i -e "s,^default=.*,default=${NEWDEFAULT}," "${ZIPLCFG}"
+            if [ -n "$NEWDEFAULT" ] && [ -f "${ZIPLCFG}" ]; then
+                if grep -q "^default=" "${ZIPLCFG}"; then
+                    sed -i -e "s,^default=.*,default=${NEWDEFAULT}," "${ZIPLCFG}"
+                else
+                    echo "default=${NEWDEFAULT}" >> "${ZIPLCFG}"
+                fi
             fi
 
             exit 0
@@ -151,8 +155,10 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
             BLS_TARGET="${BLS_DIR}/${MACHINE_ID}-${KERNEL_VERSION}.conf"
             BLS_DEBUG="$(echo ${BLS_TARGET} | sed -e "s/${KERNEL_VERSION}/${KERNEL_VERSION}~debug/")"
 
-            TITLE="$(grep '^title[ \t]' "${BLS_TARGET}" | sed -e 's/^title[ \t]*//')"
-            sed -i -e "/^default=${TITLE}/d" "${ZIPLCFG}"
+            if [ -f "${BLS_TARGET}" ] && [ -f "${ZIPLCFG}" ]; then
+                TITLE="$(grep '^title[ \t]' "${BLS_TARGET}" | sed -e 's/^title[ \t]*//')"
+                sed -i -e "/^default=${TITLE}/d" "${ZIPLCFG}"
+            fi
 
             if [[ -f "${BLS_DEBUG}" ]]; then
                 TITLE="$(grep '^title[ \t]' "${BLS_DEBUG}" | sed -e 's/^title[ \t]*//')"
diff --git a/s390utils.spec b/s390utils.spec
index d231473..95e0777 100644
--- a/s390utils.spec
+++ b/s390utils.spec
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 Name:           s390utils
 Summary:        Utilities and daemons for IBM z Systems
 Version:        2.13.0
-Release:        3%{?dist}
+Release:        4%{?dist}
 Epoch:          2
 License:        MIT
 ExclusiveArch:  s390 s390x
@@ -794,6 +794,9 @@ User-space development files for the s390/s390x architecture.
 
 
 %changelog
+* Fri Jul 03 2020 Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@redhat.com> - 2:2.13.0-4
+- add a default entry in zipl.conf if there isn't one present (#1698363)
+
 * Tue Jun 09 2020 Jakub Čajka <jcajka@redhat.com> - 2:2.13.0-3
 - split off core package with basic functionalities and reduced deps from base sub-package