diff --git a/tests/scripts/check-files.py b/tests/scripts/check-files.py
index 84cad4905..86be3ffb3 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/check-files.py
+++ b/tests/scripts/check-files.py
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ class TabIssueTracker(LineIssueTracker):
 
     heading = "Tabs present:"
     suffix_exemptions = frozenset([
+        ".pem", # some openssl dumps have tabs
         ".sln",
         "/Makefile",
         "/generate_visualc_files.pl",