diff --git a/koji/__init__.py b/koji/__init__.py
index 823ebcf2..c5795b34 100644
--- a/koji/__init__.py
+++ b/koji/__init__.py
@@ -1931,9 +1931,10 @@ def is_requests_cert_error(e):
     # Using str(e) is slightly ugly, but the error stacks in python-requests
     # are way more ugly.
     errstr = str(e)
-    if ('certificate revoked' in errstr or
-            'certificate expired' in errstr or
-            'certificate verify failed' in errstr):
+    if ('Permission denied' in errstr or # certificate not readable
+        'certificate revoked' in errstr or
+        'certificate expired' in errstr or
+        'certificate verify failed' in errstr):
         return True
 
     return False