diff --git a/os_brick/initiator/linuxscsi.py b/os_brick/initiator/linuxscsi.py
index 221ef4372..a79962eaa 100644
--- a/os_brick/initiator/linuxscsi.py
+++ b/os_brick/initiator/linuxscsi.py
@@ -157,8 +157,13 @@ class LinuxSCSI(executor.Executor):
         try:
             if execute is None:
                 execute = priv_rootwrap.execute
-            execute('multipathd', 'show', 'status',
-                    run_as_root=True, root_helper=root_helper)
+            cmd = ('multipathd', 'show', 'status')
+            out, _err = execute(*cmd, run_as_root=True,
+                                root_helper=root_helper)
+            # There was a bug in multipathd where it didn't return an error
+            # code and just printed the error message in stdout.
+            if out and out.startswith('error receiving packet'):
+                raise putils.ProcessExecutionError('', out, 1, cmd, None)
         except putils.ProcessExecutionError as err:
             LOG.error('multipathd is not running: exit code %(err)s',
                       {'err': err.exit_code})
diff --git a/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_connector.py b/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_connector.py
index 8ef29b574..c90d00f66 100644
--- a/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_connector.py
+++ b/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_connector.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class ConnectorUtilsTestCase(test_base.TestCase):
     def test_brick_get_connector_properties(self):
         self._test_brick_get_connector_properties(False, False, False)
 
-    @mock.patch.object(priv_rootwrap, 'execute')
+    @mock.patch.object(priv_rootwrap, 'execute', return_value=('', ''))
     def test_brick_get_connector_properties_multipath(self, mock_execute):
         self._test_brick_get_connector_properties(True, True, True)
         mock_execute.assert_called_once_with('multipathd', 'show', 'status',
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ class ConnectorTestCase(test_base.TestCase):
 
     def test_get_connector_properties(self):
         with mock.patch.object(priv_rootwrap, 'execute') as mock_exec:
-            mock_exec.return_value = True
+            mock_exec.return_value = ('', '')
             multipath = True
             enforce_multipath = True
             props = base.BaseLinuxConnector.get_connector_properties(
diff --git a/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_linuxscsi.py b/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_linuxscsi.py
index 96ab0da3f..9f02a7239 100644
--- a/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_linuxscsi.py
+++ b/os_brick/tests/initiator/test_linuxscsi.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import time
 
 import ddt
 import mock
+from oslo_concurrency import processutils as putils
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 
 from os_brick import exception
@@ -829,12 +830,20 @@ loop0                                     0"""
         expected = 13
         self.assertEqual(expected, result)
 
-    @mock.patch('os_brick.privileged.rootwrap')
-    def test_is_multipath_running_default_executor(self, mock_rootwrap):
-        self.assertTrue(
-            linuxscsi.LinuxSCSI.is_multipath_running(
-                False, None, mock_rootwrap.execute))
-        mock_rootwrap.execute.assert_called_once_with(
+    @mock.patch('os_brick.privileged.rootwrap.execute', return_value=('', ''))
+    def test_is_multipath_running_default_executor(self, mock_exec):
+        res = linuxscsi.LinuxSCSI.is_multipath_running(False, None, mock_exec)
+        self.assertTrue(res)
+        mock_exec.assert_called_once_with(
+            'multipathd', 'show', 'status', run_as_root=True, root_helper=None)
+
+    @mock.patch('os_brick.privileged.rootwrap.execute')
+    def test_is_multipath_running_failure_exit_code_0(self, mock_exec):
+        mock_exec.return_value = ('error receiving packet', '')
+        self.assertRaises(putils.ProcessExecutionError,
+                          linuxscsi.LinuxSCSI.is_multipath_running,
+                          True, None, mock_exec)
+        mock_exec.assert_called_once_with(
             'multipathd', 'show', 'status', run_as_root=True, root_helper=None)
 
     @mock.patch('glob.glob')