diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
index bf5e33e6be8..9391d386fb4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
@@ -501,6 +501,8 @@ class CLI(object):
             except OSError as e:
                 raise AnsibleError("Problem running vault password script %s (%s). If this is not a script, remove the executable bit from the file." % (' '.join(this_path), e))
             stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
+            if p.returncode != 0:
+                raise AnsibleError("Vault password script %s returned non-zero (%s)." % (this_path, p.returncode))
             vault_pass = stdout.strip('\r\n')
         else:
             try: