diff --git a/script/check-quality-gate.sh b/script/check-quality-gate.sh
index 5c51963..1576db0 100755
--- a/script/check-quality-gate.sh
+++ b/script/check-quality-gate.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ if [[ ${status} == "PENDING" || ${status} == "IN_PROGRESS" ]] && [[ ${SECONDS} -
     exit 1
 fi
 
+if [[ ${status} == "CANCELED" ]]; then
+    fail "The SonarQube background task was CANCELED."
+fi
+
+if [[ ${status} == "FAILED" ]]; then
+    errorMessage="$(jq -r '.task.errorMessage // "No error message provided."' <<< "${task}")"
+    fail "The SonarQube background task ${status}.${reset}\n\n${errorMessage}"
+fi
+
 analysisId="$(jq -r '.task.analysisId' <<< "${task}")"
 qualityGateUrl="${serverUrl}/api/qualitygates/project_status?analysisId=${analysisId}"
 qualityGateStatus="$(curl --location --location-trusted --max-redirs 10 --silent --fail --show-error --user "${SONAR_TOKEN}": "${qualityGateUrl}" | jq -r '.projectStatus.status')"
diff --git a/script/common.sh b/script/common.sh
index b890acf..794358f 100755
--- a/script/common.sh
+++ b/script/common.sh
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@
 set -e
 set -o pipefail
 
-gray="\\e[37m"
-blue="\\e[36m"
-red="\\e[31m"
-yellow="\\e[33m"
-green="\\e[32m"
-reset="\\e[0m"
+gray="\\033[37m"
+blue="\\033[36m"
+red="\\033[31m"
+yellow="\\033[33m"
+green="\\033[32m"
+reset="\\033[0m"
 
 info() { echo -e "${blue}INFO: $*${reset}"; }
 error() { echo -e "${red}ERROR: $*${reset}"; }
diff --git a/test/check-quality-gate-test.bats b/test/check-quality-gate-test.bats
index 49bf4f3..4e44dff 100755
--- a/test/check-quality-gate-test.bats
+++ b/test/check-quality-gate-test.bats
@@ -105,6 +105,43 @@ teardown() {
   [[ "$output" = *"Quality Gate not set for the project. Please configure the Quality Gate in SonarQube or remove sonarqube-quality-gate action from the workflow."* ]]
 }
 
+@test "fail when Sonar background task failed with an error message" {
+  export SONAR_TOKEN="test"
+  echo "serverUrl=http://localhost:9000" >> metadata_tmp
+  echo "ceTaskUrl=http://localhost:9000/api/ce/task?id=AXlCe3jz9LkwR9Gs0pBY" >> metadata_tmp
+
+  #mock curl
+  function curl() {
+     echo '{"task":{"status":"FAILED","errorMessage":"Fact of life: analysis cannot be processed"}}'
+  }
+  export -f curl
+
+  run script/check-quality-gate.sh metadata_tmp 300
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "$output" = *"The SonarQube background task FAILED."* ]]
+  [[ "$output" = *"Fact of life: analysis cannot be processed"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "fail when Sonar background task canceled" {
+  export SONAR_TOKEN="test"
+  echo "serverUrl=http://localhost:9000" >> metadata_tmp
+  echo "ceTaskUrl=http://localhost:9000/api/ce/task?id=AXlCe3jz9LkwR9Gs0pBY" >> metadata_tmp
+
+  #mock curl
+  function curl() {
+     echo '{"task":{"status":"CANCELED","errorMessage":"Analysis was canceled"}}'
+  }
+  export -f curl
+
+  run script/check-quality-gate.sh metadata_tmp 300
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+  [[ "$output" = *"The SonarQube background task was CANCELED."* ]]
+  [[ "$output" != *"Analysis was canceled"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" != *"No error message provided."* ]]
+}
+
 @test "fail when polling timeout is reached" {
   export SONAR_TOKEN="test"
   echo "serverUrl=http://localhost:9000" >> metadata_tmp