diff --git a/modules/post/linux/gather/mount_cifs_creds.rb b/modules/post/linux/gather/mount_cifs_creds.rb
index 302709d3e0..eb89855934 100644
--- a/modules/post/linux/gather/mount_cifs_creds.rb
+++ b/modules/post/linux/gather/mount_cifs_creds.rb
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class MetasploitModule < Msf::Post
     ])
 
     # parse each line from /etc/fstab
+    fail_with(Failure::NotFound, '/etc/fstab not found on system') unless file_exist?('/etc/fstab')
     read_file("/etc/fstab").each_line do |fstab_line|
       fstab_line.strip!
       # where we'll store the current parsed credentials, if any