diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/index.js b/lib/workers/branch/index.js
index c0a941241b6a42f12abe50cc4d31b48bfcb61cdc..206fa5d2c778f14e007626b79ebd3720f87e4c1d 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/index.js
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/index.js
@@ -331,6 +331,11 @@ async function processBranch(branchConfig, prHourlyLimitReached, packageFiles) {
       return 'error';
     } else if (err.message === 'bundler-unknown') {
       logger.warn('Unknown bundler error');
+    } else if (
+      err.messagee &&
+      err.message.includes('fatal: Authentication failed')
+    ) {
+      throw new Error('authentication-failure');
     } else if (
       err.message !== 'registry-failure' &&
       err.message !== 'platform-failure'
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/error.js b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
index f2c726c50b2d411d66f1c23bfbdd5817c91db09f..5acd918b8490890da47c2f56916c0a1b102c3f1a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/error.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
@@ -99,6 +99,11 @@ async function handleError(config, err) {
     delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
     return err.message;
   }
+  if (err.message === 'authentication-error') {
+    logger.warn('Authentication error - aborting');
+    delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
+    return err.message;
+  }
   if (err.message === 'lockfile-error') {
     delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
     logger.info('Lock file error - aborting');
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
index 3cc00d5a4719aaee1486941c8bc6838a3db51215..b37d4362d6d135ec0402f829bc624fcc89179be4 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
+++ b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ describe('workers/repository/error', () => {
       'no-vulnerability-alerts',
       'cannot-fork',
       'integration-unauthorized',
+      'authentication-error',
     ];
     errors.forEach(err => {
       it(`errors ${err}`, async () => {