diff --git a/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command.go b/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command.go
index fbb90957b79c..b8e2b74eb225 100644
--- a/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command.go
+++ b/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command.go
@@ -164,7 +164,9 @@ func (c *CephToolCommand) run() ([]byte, error) {
 	if command == RBDTool {
 		if c.RemoteExecution {
 			output, stderr, err = c.context.RemoteExecutor.ExecCommandInContainerWithFullOutputWithTimeout(ProxyAppLabel, CommandProxyInitContainerName, c.clusterInfo.Namespace, append([]string{command}, args...)...)
-			output = fmt.Sprintf("%s. %s", output, stderr)
+			if stderr != "" || err != nil {
+				err = errors.Errorf("%s. %s", err.Error(), stderr)
+			}
 		} else if c.timeout == 0 {
 			output, err = c.context.Executor.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(command, args...)
 		} else {
diff --git a/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command_test.go b/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command_test.go
index 6476e45053cc..d887ff46574b 100644
--- a/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command_test.go
+++ b/pkg/daemon/ceph/client/command_test.go
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func TestNewRBDCommand(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Error(t, err)
 		assert.Len(t, cmd.args, 4)
 		// This is not the best but it shows we go through the right codepath
-		assert.EqualError(t, err, "no pods found with selector \"rook-ceph-mgr\"")
+		assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "no pods found with selector \"rook-ceph-mgr\"")
 	})
 
 	t.Run("context canceled nothing to run", func(t *testing.T) {