diff --git a/docker/keystone/keystone/keystone_bootstrap.sh b/docker/keystone/keystone/keystone_bootstrap.sh
index c140e97c73..e37e383526 100644
--- a/docker/keystone/keystone/keystone_bootstrap.sh
+++ b/docker/keystone/keystone/keystone_bootstrap.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+set -o pipefail
+
 # NOTE(SamYaple): Kolla needs to wraps `keystone-manage bootstrap` to ensure
 # any change is reported correctly for idempotency. This script will exit with
 # valid json that can be parsed with information about if the task has failed
@@ -29,7 +31,9 @@ function exit_json {
 }
 
 changed="false"
-keystone_bootstrap=$(keystone-manage bootstrap --bootstrap-username "${USERNAME}" --bootstrap-password "${PASSWORD}" --bootstrap-project-name "${PROJECT}" --bootstrap-role-name "${ROLE}" --bootstrap-admin-url "${ADMIN_URL}" --bootstrap-internal-url "${INTERNAL_URL}" --bootstrap-public-url "${PUBLIC_URL}" --bootstrap-service-name "keystone" --bootstrap-region-id "${REGION}" 2>&1)
+# NOTE(mgoddard): pipe through cat -v to remove unprintable control characters
+# which prevent JSON decoding.
+keystone_bootstrap=$(keystone-manage bootstrap --bootstrap-username "${USERNAME}" --bootstrap-password "${PASSWORD}" --bootstrap-project-name "${PROJECT}" --bootstrap-role-name "${ROLE}" --bootstrap-admin-url "${ADMIN_URL}" --bootstrap-internal-url "${INTERNAL_URL}" --bootstrap-public-url "${PUBLIC_URL}" --bootstrap-service-name "keystone" --bootstrap-region-id "${REGION}" 2>&1 | cat -v)
 if [[ $? != 0 ]]; then
     fail_json "${keystone_bootstrap}"
 fi
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/fix-keystone-bootstrap-unprintable-e01b088ef821fd18.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/fix-keystone-bootstrap-unprintable-e01b088ef821fd18.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..885e0e7606
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/fix-keystone-bootstrap-unprintable-e01b088ef821fd18.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixes an issue with keystone bootstrap where an error message emitted by
+    the ``keystone-manage bootstrap`` command is hidden. See `bug 1855701
+    <https://bugs.launchpad.net/kolla-ansible/+bug/1855701>`__ for details.