diff --git a/pkg/sosreport/sosreport.jsx b/pkg/sosreport/sosreport.jsx
index bc822dde6d95..51c0a697820d 100644
--- a/pkg/sosreport/sosreport.jsx
+++ b/pkg/sosreport/sosreport.jsx
@@ -177,7 +177,8 @@ function sosCreate(args, setProgress, setError, setErrorDetail) {
     });
 
     task.catch(error => {
-        setError(error.toString());
+        console.error(JSON.stringify(error));
+        setError(error.toString() || _("sos report failed"));
         setErrorDetail(output);
     });
 
diff --git a/test/verify/check-sosreport b/test/verify/check-sosreport
index ac341107027d..30c01d467c13 100755
--- a/test/verify/check-sosreport
+++ b/test/verify/check-sosreport
@@ -107,6 +107,18 @@ only-plugins=release,date,host,cgroups,networking
         b.click("#sos-remove-dialog button:contains(Delete)")
         testlib.wait(lambda: m.execute(f"! test -f /var/tmp/{base_report_gpg} && echo yes"))
 
+        # error reporting
+        self.write_file("/usr/local/bin/sos", """#!/bin/sh
+echo "EssOhEss is kaputt" >&2
+exit 1""", perm="755")
+        b.click("button:contains('Run report')")
+        b.wait_visible("#sos-dialog")
+        b.click("#sos-dialog button:contains(Run report)")
+        b.wait_in_text("#sos-dialog .pf-v5-c-alert", "sos report failed")
+        b.wait_in_text("#sos-dialog .pf-v5-c-alert", "EssOhEss is kaputt")
+        b.click("#sos-dialog button:contains(Cancel)")
+        b.wait_not_present("#sos-dialog")
+
         self.allow_journal_messages('.*comm="sosreport".*')
 
     def testWithUrlRoot(self):