diff --git a/lib/inspec/resources/postgres_session.rb b/lib/inspec/resources/postgres_session.rb
index b7b962581..0d40170a2 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/resources/postgres_session.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/resources/postgres_session.rb
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ module Inspec::Resources
       psql_cmd = create_psql_cmd(query, db)
       cmd = inspec.command(psql_cmd, redact_regex: %r{(:\/\/[a-z]*:).*(@)})
       out = cmd.stdout + "\n" + cmd.stderr
-      if cmd.exit_status != 0 && ( out =~ /could not connect to/ || out =~ /password authentication failed/ ) && out.downcase =~ /error:/
+      if cmd.exit_status != 0 && ( out =~ /could not connect to/ || out =~ /password authentication failed/ ) && (out.downcase =~ /error:/ || out.downcase =~ /fatal:/)
         raise Inspec::Exceptions::ResourceFailed, "PostgreSQL connection error: #{out}"
       elsif cmd.exit_status != 0 && out.downcase =~ /error:/
         Lines.new(out, "PostgreSQL query with error: #{query}", cmd.exit_status)
diff --git a/test/fixtures/cmd/psql-password-authentication-fatal-error b/test/fixtures/cmd/psql-password-authentication-fatal-error
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bcaa57f6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/cmd/psql-password-authentication-fatal-error
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+psql: FATAL:  password authentication failed for user "postgres"\n
diff --git a/test/unit/resources/postgres_session_test.rb b/test/unit/resources/postgres_session_test.rb
index 0f22991c5..352921e77 100644
--- a/test/unit/resources/postgres_session_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/resources/postgres_session_test.rb
@@ -74,6 +74,20 @@ describe "Inspec::Resources::PostgresSession" do
     _(ex.message).must_include("PostgreSQL connection error")
   end
 
+  it "fails when no password authentication fails with fatal message" do
+    resource = quick_resource(:postgres_session, :linux, "postgres", "wrongpassword", "localhost", 5432) do |cmd, opts|
+      cmd.strip!
+      case cmd
+      when ("psql -d postgresql://postgres:wrongpassword@localhost:5432/mydatabase -A -t -w -c Select\\ 5\\;") then
+        result(nil, "test/fixtures/cmd/psql-password-authentication-fatal-error", 1)
+      else
+        raise cmd.inspect
+      end
+    end
+    ex = assert_raises(Inspec::Exceptions::ResourceFailed) { resource.query("Select 5;", ["mydatabase"]) }
+    _(ex.message).must_include("PostgreSQL connection error")
+  end
+
   it "returns stderr as output if there is error in the query." do
     resource = quick_resource(:postgres_session, :linux, "postgres", "postgres", "localhost", 5432) do |cmd, opts|
       cmd.strip!