diff --git a/src/ai/backend/kernel/base.py b/src/ai/backend/kernel/base.py
index 32118c508a..6f79d4e74b 100644
--- a/src/ai/backend/kernel/base.py
+++ b/src/ai/backend/kernel/base.py
@@ -1014,7 +1014,7 @@ async def _start_service(
                     service_env["LD_LIBRARY_PATH"] = service_env["LD_LIBRARY_PATH"].replace(
                         "/opt/backend.ai/lib:", ""
                     )
-                return await self._run_cmd(cmdargs, cwd, service_env, service_info, do_not_wait)
+                return await self._run_cmd(cmdargs, _cwd, service_env, service_info, do_not_wait)
             except Exception as e:
                 log.exception("start_service: unexpected error")
                 return {