diff --git a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
index 9dd2ec33b1..469acdcdb9 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
@@ -1237,7 +1237,7 @@ echo_i "reconfiguring secondary - removing catalog4 catalog zone, adding non-exi
 ret=0
 sed -e "s/^#T2//" < ns2/named1.conf.in > ns2/named.conf.tmp
 copy_setports ns2/named.conf.tmp ns2/named.conf
-$RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s 10.53.0.2 -p 9953 reconfig > /dev/null 2>&1 && ret=1
+$RNDC -c ../common/rndc.conf -s 10.53.0.2 -p "${CONTROLPORT}" reconfig > /dev/null 2>&1 && ret=1
 if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=$((status+ret))