diff --git a/pkg/util/ingress/ingress.go b/pkg/util/ingress/ingress.go
index acadad432..91243e2cc 100644
--- a/pkg/util/ingress/ingress.go
+++ b/pkg/util/ingress/ingress.go
@@ -282,9 +282,11 @@ func checkPath(paths []networkingv1.HTTPIngressPath, enablePathTypeValidation bo
 
 		switch pathType := *path.PathType; pathType {
 		case networkingv1.PathTypeImplementationSpecific:
-			//only match on regex chars per Ingress spec when path is implementation specific
-			if !regexSpecificChars.MatchString(path.Path) {
-				return fmt.Errorf("path %s of type %s contains invalid characters", path.Path, *path.PathType)
+			if enablePathTypeValidation {
+				//only match on regex chars per Ingress spec when path is implementation specific
+				if !regexSpecificChars.MatchString(path.Path) {
+					return fmt.Errorf("path %s of type %s contains invalid characters", path.Path, *path.PathType)
+				}
 			}
 
 		case networkingv1.PathTypeExact, networkingv1.PathTypePrefix:
diff --git a/pkg/util/ingress/ingress_test.go b/pkg/util/ingress/ingress_test.go
index 3bd7f1230..12c2ff1da 100644
--- a/pkg/util/ingress/ingress_test.go
+++ b/pkg/util/ingress/ingress_test.go
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ func TestValidateIngressPath(t *testing.T) {
 			name:                     "should reject path when the allowed additional set does not match",
 			wantErr:                  true,
 			additionalChars:          "().?",
-			EnablePathTypeValidation: false,
+			EnablePathTypeValidation: true,
 			copyIng:                  generateDumbIngressforPathTest(&pathTypeImplSpecific, "/foo/bar/(.+)"),
 		},
 		{
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ func TestValidateIngressPath(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:                     "should block if at least one path is bad",
 			wantErr:                  true,
-			EnablePathTypeValidation: false,
+			EnablePathTypeValidation: true,
 			copyIng:                  generateComplexIngress(generateDumbIngressforPathTest(&pathTypeImplSpecific, "/foo/bar/(.?)")),
 		},
 	}