diff --git a/ironic_inspector/process.py b/ironic_inspector/process.py
index 083fee486..7c8e90f8b 100644
--- a/ironic_inspector/process.py
+++ b/ironic_inspector/process.py
@@ -376,11 +376,14 @@ def _reapply(node_info):
     # runs in background
     try:
         introspection_data = _get_unprocessed_data(node_info.uuid)
-    except Exception:
+    except Exception as exc:
         LOG.exception(_LE('Encountered exception while fetching '
                           'stored introspection data'),
                       node_info=node_info)
-        node_info.release_lock()
+        msg = (_('Unexpected exception %(exc_class)s while fetching '
+                 'unprocessed introspection data from Swift: %(error)s') %
+               {'exc_class': exc.__class__.__name__, 'error': exc})
+        node_info.finished(error=msg)
         return
 
     failures = []
diff --git a/ironic_inspector/test/unit/test_process.py b/ironic_inspector/test/unit/test_process.py
index 858e097e0..63fbb080f 100644
--- a/ironic_inspector/test/unit/test_process.py
+++ b/ironic_inspector/test/unit/test_process.py
@@ -653,6 +653,8 @@ class TestReapplyNode(BaseTest):
                                           swift_mock, apply_mock,
                                           post_hook_mock, ):
         exc = Exception('Oops')
+        expected_error = ('Unexpected exception Exception while fetching '
+                          'unprocessed introspection data from Swift: Oops')
         swift_mock.get_object.side_effect = exc
         with mock.patch.object(process.LOG, 'exception',
                                autospec=True) as log_mock:
@@ -666,7 +668,8 @@ class TestReapplyNode(BaseTest):
         self.assertFalse(swift_mock.create_object.called)
         self.assertFalse(apply_mock.called)
         self.assertFalse(post_hook_mock.called)
-        self.assertFalse(finished_mock.called)
+        finished_mock.assert_called_once_with(self.node_info,
+                                              expected_error)
 
     @prepare_mocks
     def test_prehook_failure(self, finished_mock, swift_mock,
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/set-node-to-error-when-swift-failure-3e919ecbf9db6401.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/set-node-to-error-when-swift-failure-3e919ecbf9db6401.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e1232a060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/set-node-to-error-when-swift-failure-3e919ecbf9db6401.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+fixes:
+  - Set the node to the error state when it
+    failed get data from swift.