diff --git a/api/handlers.go b/api/handlers.go
index b2c552b8d5..3560339ff5 100644
--- a/api/handlers.go
+++ b/api/handlers.go
@@ -325,6 +325,17 @@ func postContainersExec(c *context, w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	defer resp.Body.Close()
 	defer closeIdleConnections(client)
 
+	// check status code
+	if resp.StatusCode < 200 || resp.StatusCode >= 400 {
+		body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			httpError(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			return
+		}
+		httpError(w, string(body), http.StatusInternalServerError)
+		return
+	}
+
 	data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
 		httpError(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
diff --git a/test/integration/api.bats b/test/integration/api.bats
index 27612f9555..e4d63bfc45 100644
--- a/test/integration/api.bats
+++ b/test/integration/api.bats
@@ -207,7 +207,15 @@ function teardown() {
 @test "docker exec" {
 	start_docker 3
 	swarm_manage
-	run docker_swarm run -d --name test_container busybox sleep 100
+	run docker_swarm create --name test_container busybox sleep 100
+	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+
+	# if container is not runing, exec will failed
+	run docker_swarm exec test_container ls
+	[ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+	[[ "$output" == *"is not running"* ]]
+
+	run docker_swarm start test_container
 	[ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
 	# make sure container is up and not paused