diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/py36-spwd.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/py36-spwd.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7b867baa8e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/py36-spwd.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- spwd - With python 3.6 spwd.getspnam returns PermissionError instead of KeyError if user does not have privileges (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/39472)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
index 7d15687c791..472904c0810 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/system/user.py
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
 
 '''
 
+import errno
 import grp
 import os
 import platform
@@ -646,6 +647,13 @@ class User(object):
                 return passwd, expires
             except KeyError:
                 return passwd, expires
+            except OSError as e:
+                # Python 3.6 raises PermissionError instead of KeyError
+                # Due to absence of PermissionError in python2.7 need to check
+                # errno
+                if e.errno in (errno.EACCES, errno.EPERM):
+                    return passwd, expires
+                raise
 
         if not self.user_exists():
             return passwd, expires