diff --git a/patroni/dcs/etcd3.py b/patroni/dcs/etcd3.py
index 1e84d5ce..2d9c0656 100644
--- a/patroni/dcs/etcd3.py
+++ b/patroni/dcs/etcd3.py
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ class UserEmpty(InvalidArgument):
     error = "etcdserver: user name is empty"
 
 
+class AuthFailed(InvalidArgument):
+    error = "etcdserver: authentication failed, invalid user ID or password"
+
+
 class PermissionDenied(Etcd3ClientError):
     code = GRPCCode.PermissionDenied
     error = "etcdserver: permission denied"
@@ -186,7 +190,7 @@ class Etcd3Client(AbstractEtcdClientWithFailover):
 
         try:
             self.authenticate()
-        except Exception as e:
+        except AuthFailed as e:
             logger.fatal('Etcd3 authentication failed: %r', e)
             sys.exit(1)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_etcd3.py b/tests/test_etcd3.py
index 6afef8f1..70f19e1d 100644
--- a/tests/test_etcd3.py
+++ b/tests/test_etcd3.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import urllib3
 
 from mock import Mock, patch
 from patroni.dcs.etcd3 import PatroniEtcd3Client, Cluster, Etcd3, Etcd3Error, Etcd3ClientError, RetryFailedError,\
-        InvalidAuthToken, Unavailable, Unknown, UnsupportedEtcdVersion, UserEmpty, base64_encode
+        InvalidAuthToken, Unavailable, Unknown, UnsupportedEtcdVersion, UserEmpty, AuthFailed, base64_encode
 from threading import Thread
 
 from . import SleepException, MockResponse
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class TestKVCache(BaseTestEtcd3):
 
 class TestPatroniEtcd3Client(BaseTestEtcd3):
 
-    @patch('patroni.dcs.etcd3.Etcd3Client.authenticate', Mock(side_effect=Exception))
+    @patch('patroni.dcs.etcd3.Etcd3Client.authenticate', Mock(side_effect=AuthFailed))
     def test__init__(self):
         self.assertRaises(SystemExit, self.setUp)