diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
index f57bf7c1c..4c0f989cd 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -1817,7 +1817,7 @@ create_intermediate_upgrade_verification_script() {
 
         while [[ $retry_count -lt $retries ]]; do
             # keep stderr with variable for logging
-            cluster_versions=$(so-elasticsearch-query _nodes/_all/version --retry 5 --retry-delay 10 2>&1)
+            cluster_versions=$(so-elasticsearch-query _nodes/_all/version --retry 5 --retry-delay 10 --fail 2>&1)
             local exit_status=$?
 
             if [[ $exit_status -ne 0 ]]; then