diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager.go
index 95b08184c95..8e333de7905 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager.go
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ func (m *UsernsManager) writeMappingsToFile(pod types.UID, userNs userNamespace)
 
 	fstore, err := utilstore.NewFileStore(dir, &utilfs.DefaultFs{})
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		return fmt.Errorf("create user namespace store: %w", err)
 	}
 	if err := fstore.Write(mappingsFile, data); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ func (m *UsernsManager) readMappingsFromFile(pod types.UID) ([]byte, error) {
 	dir := m.kl.GetPodDir(pod)
 	fstore, err := utilstore.NewFileStore(dir, &utilfs.DefaultFs{})
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create user namespace store: %w", err)
 	}
 	return fstore.Read(mappingsFile)
 }
@@ -151,13 +151,13 @@ func MakeUserNsManager(kl userNsPodsManager) (*UsernsManager, error) {
 		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 			return &m, nil
 		}
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("user namespace manager can't read pods from disk: %w", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("read pods from disk: %w", err)
 
 	}
 	for _, podUID := range found {
 		klog.V(5).InfoS("reading pod from disk for user namespace", "podUID", podUID)
 		if err := m.recordPodMappings(podUID); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("record pod mappings: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ func (m *UsernsManager) releaseWithLock(pod types.UID) {
 
 func (m *UsernsManager) parseUserNsFileAndRecord(pod types.UID, content []byte) (userNs userNamespace, err error) {
 	if err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(content), &userNs); err != nil {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("can't parse file: %w", err)
+		err = fmt.Errorf("invalid user namespace mappings file: %w", err)
 		return
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager_test.go
index d2156dd4c6d..cf23967405d 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/userns/userns_manager_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package userns
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -297,6 +298,7 @@ func TestCleanupOrphanedPodUsernsAllocations(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tc := range cases {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			testUserNsPodsManager := &testUserNsPodsManager{
+				podDir:  t.TempDir(),
 				podList: tc.listPods,
 			}
 			m, err := MakeUserNsManager(testUserNsPodsManager)
@@ -359,3 +361,38 @@ func TestRecordMaxPods(t *testing.T) {
 	err = m.record(types.UID(fmt.Sprintf("%d", maxPods+1)), uint32((maxPods+1)*65536), 65536)
 	assert.Error(t, err)
 }
+
+type failingUserNsPodsManager struct {
+	testUserNsPodsManager
+}
+
+func (m *failingUserNsPodsManager) ListPodsFromDisk() ([]types.UID, error) {
+	return nil, os.ErrPermission
+}
+
+func TestMakeUserNsManagerFailsListPod(t *testing.T) {
+	defer featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, pkgfeatures.UserNamespacesSupport, true)()
+
+	testUserNsPodsManager := &failingUserNsPodsManager{}
+	_, err := MakeUserNsManager(testUserNsPodsManager)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "read pods from disk")
+}
+
+func TestMakeUserNsManagerFailsPodRecord(t *testing.T) {
+	defer featuregatetesting.SetFeatureGateDuringTest(t, utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate, pkgfeatures.UserNamespacesSupport, true)()
+
+	testUserNsPodsManager := &testUserNsPodsManager{
+		podList: []types.UID{"pod-1", "pod-2"},
+		podDir:  t.TempDir(),
+	}
+
+	// Remove read/execute permissions from this directory.
+	if err := os.Chmod(testUserNsPodsManager.podDir, 0222); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	_, err := MakeUserNsManager(testUserNsPodsManager)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "record pod mappings")
+}