diff --git a/src/utils.cc b/src/utils.cc
index fec94328..be83fa04 100644
--- a/src/utils.cc
+++ b/src/utils.cc
@@ -229,11 +229,13 @@ std::istream& SafeGetline(std::istream& is, std::string& t) {
 optional<std::string> ReadContent(const std::string& filename) {
   std::ifstream cache;
   cache.open(filename);
-  if (!cache.good())
-    return nullopt;
 
-  return std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(cache),
-                     std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
+  try {
+    return std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(cache),
+                       std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
+  } catch (std::ios_base::failure&) {
+    return nullopt;
+  }
 }
 
 std::vector<std::string> ReadLines(std::string filename) {