diff --git a/cmd/podman/containers/create.go b/cmd/podman/containers/create.go
index a3b9e3e143bf..d5b4bbcc435a 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/containers/create.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/containers/create.go
@@ -154,6 +154,13 @@ func create(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		}
 		imageName = name
 	}
+
+	if cliVals.Authfile != "" {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(cliVals.Authfile); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
 	s := specgen.NewSpecGenerator(imageName, cliVals.RootFS)
 	if err := specgenutil.FillOutSpecGen(s, &cliVals, args); err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/test/system/030-run.bats b/test/system/030-run.bats
index 2b089f25731e..18cbc4fbdb3c 100644
--- a/test/system/030-run.bats
+++ b/test/system/030-run.bats
@@ -1158,4 +1158,12 @@ EOF
     run_podman rm -f -t0 $ctr
 }
 
+@test "podman run --authfile=/tmp/bogus " {
+    run_podman 125 run --authfile=/tmp/bogus $IMAGE false
+    is "$output" "Error: stat /tmp/bogus: no such file or directory" "should faile with not such file"
+
+    run_podman 125 create --authfile=/tmp/bogus $IMAGE false
+    is "$output" "Error: stat /tmp/bogus: no such file or directory" "should faile with not such file"
+}
+
 # vim: filetype=sh