diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8e7814ff..ac6ef892 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
     "karma-firefox-launcher": "^2.0.0",
     "karma-mocha": "^2.0.0",
     "karma-sourcemap-loader": "^0.4.0",
-    "karma-webpack": "^5.0.0",
+    "karma-webpack": "5.0.0",
     "keypair": "^1.0.4",
     "linkinator": "^4.0.0",
     "mocha": "^9.2.2",
diff --git a/src/auth/googleauth.ts b/src/auth/googleauth.ts
index aca320ac..472ae789 100644
--- a/src/auth/googleauth.ts
+++ b/src/auth/googleauth.ts
@@ -343,7 +343,12 @@ export class GoogleAuth<T extends AuthClient = JSONClient> {
     let universeDomain = originalOrCamelOptions(this.clientOptions).get(
       'universe_domain'
     );
-    universeDomain ??= (await this.getClient()).universeDomain;
+    try {
+      universeDomain ??= (await this.getClient()).universeDomain;
+    } catch {
+      // client or ADC is not available
+      universeDomain ??= DEFAULT_UNIVERSE;
+    }
 
     return universeDomain;
   }