diff --git a/ipapython/ipautil.py b/ipapython/ipautil.py
index 91a0eb215..6d07e07a0 100644
--- a/ipapython/ipautil.py
+++ b/ipapython/ipautil.py
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def copy_template_file(infilename, outfilename, vars):
 
 
 def write_tmp_file(txt):
-    fd = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
+    fd = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile('w+')
     fd.write(txt)
     fd.flush()