diff --git a/test/lib/publish.js b/test/lib/publish.js
index 6a4c6e0ab707c..e34f00b477ee1 100644
--- a/test/lib/publish.js
+++ b/test/lib/publish.js
@@ -732,5 +732,33 @@ t.test('private workspaces', (t) => {
     })
   })
 
+  t.test('unexpected error', t => {
+    const Publish = t.mock('../../lib/publish.js', {
+      ...mocks,
+      libnpmpublish: {
+        publish: (manifest, tarballData, opts) => {
+          if (manifest.private)
+            throw new Error('ERR')
+
+          publishes.push(manifest)
+        },
+      },
+      npmlog: {
+        notice () {},
+        verbose () {},
+      },
+    })
+    const publish = new Publish(npm)
+
+    publish.execWorkspaces([], [], (err) => {
+      t.match(
+        err,
+        /ERR/,
+        'should throw unexpected error'
+      )
+      t.end()
+    })
+  })
+
   t.end()
 })