diff --git a/syncoid b/syncoid
index 34e5a12..5e5df01 100755
--- a/syncoid
+++ b/syncoid
@@ -1750,7 +1750,7 @@ sub buildsynccmd {
 
 		$synccmd .= escapeshellparam($remotecmd);
 	}
-	return $synccmd;
+	return "(set -o pipefail 2> /dev/null) && set -o pipefail; $synccmd";
 }
 
 sub pruneoldsyncsnaps {
diff --git a/tests/syncoid/015_send_pipefail/run.sh b/tests/syncoid/015_send_pipefail/run.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9900f2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/syncoid/015_send_pipefail/run.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# test replication pipeline failure in zfs send 
+
+set -eux
+
+. ../../common/lib.sh
+
+POOL_NAME="syncoid-test-013"
+POOL_IMAGE="/tmp/${POOL_NAME}.zpool"
+POOL_KEY="/tmp/${POOL_NAME}.key"
+POOL_SIZE="200M"
+TARGET_CHECKSUM="ec45c5a4b7c9557b351cb485904cd310561505f41fe8a48da55eab9419a82bdb  -"
+
+truncate -s "${POOL_SIZE}" "${POOL_IMAGE}"
+
+zpool create -m none -f "${POOL_NAME}" "${POOL_IMAGE}"
+
+function cleanUp {
+  zpool export "${POOL_NAME}"
+  rm -f "${POOL_IMAGE}" "${POOL_KEY}"
+}
+trap cleanUp EXIT # export pool in any case
+
+echo "${POOL_NAME}" > "${POOL_KEY}"
+zfs create -o encryption=on -o keyformat=passphrase -o keylocation=file://"${POOL_KEY}" "${POOL_NAME}"/src
+
+# initial replication
+zfs snapshot "${POOL_NAME}"/src@snap1
+../../../syncoid --debug --no-sync-snap "${POOL_NAME}"/src "${POOL_NAME}"/dst
+
+# break the source
+zfs unload-key "${POOL_NAME}/src"
+
+# zfs send must fail because source is unreadable
+zfs snapshot "${POOL_NAME}"/src@snap2
+if ../../../syncoid --debug --no-sync-snap "${POOL_NAME}"/src "${POOL_NAME}"/dst; then
+  echo "syncoid succeeded against unreadable source" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# verify
+output=$(zfs list -t snapshot -r -H -o name "${POOL_NAME}")
+checksum=$(echo "${output}" | grep -v syncoid_ | shasum -a 256)
+
+if [ "${checksum}" != "${TARGET_CHECKSUM}" ]; then
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+exit 0