diff --git a/ansible/roles/disable-selinux/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/disable-selinux/tasks/main.yml
index dfa6a50c2..ca82edab5 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/disable-selinux/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/disable-selinux/tasks/main.yml
@@ -5,11 +5,17 @@
     state: present
   become: True
 
+- name: Check if SELinux configuration file exists
+  stat:
+    path: /etc/selinux/config
+  register: stat_result
+
 - name: Ensure SELinux is disabled
   selinux:
     state: disabled
   register: selinux_result
   become: True
+  when: stat_result.stat.exists
 
 - block:
     - name: Set a fact to determine whether we are running locally
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-disable-selinux-not-installed-eff17c715efc1fdb.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-disable-selinux-not-installed-eff17c715efc1fdb.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..32503a09a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-disable-selinux-not-installed-eff17c715efc1fdb.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixes an issue where disabling SELinux would fail on systems without
+    SELinux installed. See `story 2007704
+    <https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/story/2007704>`__.