diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/known_hosts.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/known_hosts.py
index 2824836650..9b6af2a28e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_utils/known_hosts.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/known_hosts.py
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ def add_host_key(module, fqdn, key_type="rsa", create_dir=False):
     if not os.path.exists(user_ssh_dir):
         if create_dir:
             try:
-                os.makedirs(user_ssh_dir, 0o700)
+                os.makedirs(user_ssh_dir, int('700', 8))
             except:
                 module.fail_json(msg="failed to create host key directory: %s" % user_ssh_dir)
         else: