diff --git a/cmd/osv-scanner/__snapshots__/main_test.snap b/cmd/osv-scanner/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
index 77f42c52b3f..3b98ecc95a2 100755
--- a/cmd/osv-scanner/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
+++ b/cmd/osv-scanner/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
@@ -373,6 +373,29 @@ overriding license for package Packagist/league/flysystem/1.0.8 with 0BSD
 
 ---
 
+[TestRun/config_file_is_invalid - 1]
+Scanning dir ./fixtures/config-invalid
+Scanned <rootdir>/fixtures/config-invalid/composer.lock file and found 1 package
+
+---
+
+[TestRun/config_file_is_invalid - 2]
+Ignored invalid config file at: <rootdir>/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml
+
+---
+
+[TestRun/config_file_is_invalid#01 - 1]
+Scanning dir ./fixtures/config-invalid
+Scanned <rootdir>/fixtures/config-invalid/composer.lock file and found 1 package
+Config file <rootdir>/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml is invalid because: toml: line 1: expected '.' or '=', but got '!' instead
+
+---
+
+[TestRun/config_file_is_invalid#01 - 2]
+Ignored invalid config file at: <rootdir>/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml
+
+---
+
 [TestRun/cyclonedx_1.4_output - 1]
 {
   "$schema": "http://cyclonedx.org/schema/bom-1.4.schema.json",
diff --git a/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/composer.lock b/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/composer.lock
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3cfadf73cb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/composer.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+{
+  "_readme": [
+    "This file locks the dependencies of your project to a known state",
+    "Read more about it at https://getcomposer.org/doc/01-basic-usage.md#composer-lock-the-lock-file",
+    "This file is @generated automatically"
+  ],
+  "content-hash": "439b16dd5df2e0730bd1cc4352654d09",
+  "packages": [
+    {
+      "name": "sentry/sdk",
+      "version": "2.0.4",
+      "source": {
+        "type": "git",
+        "url": "https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-php-sdk.git",
+        "reference": "4c115873c86ad5bd0ac6d962db70ca53bf8fb874"
+      },
+      "dist": {
+        "type": "zip",
+        "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/getsentry/sentry-php-sdk/zipball/4c115873c86ad5bd0ac6d962db70ca53bf8fb874",
+        "reference": "4c115873c86ad5bd0ac6d962db70ca53bf8fb874",
+        "shasum": ""
+      },
+      "require": {
+        "http-interop/http-factory-guzzle": "^1.0",
+        "php-http/curl-client": "^1.0|^2.0",
+        "sentry/sentry": "^2.1.3"
+      },
+      "type": "metapackage",
+      "notification-url": "https://packagist.org/downloads/",
+      "license": ["MIT"],
+      "authors": [
+        {
+          "name": "Sentry",
+          "email": "accounts@sentry.io"
+        }
+      ],
+      "description": "This is a metapackage shipping sentry/sentry with a recommended http client.",
+      "time": "2019-09-09T19:54:44+00:00"
+    }
+  ],
+  "packages-dev": [],
+  "aliases": [],
+  "minimum-stability": "dev",
+  "stability-flags": [],
+  "prefer-stable": true,
+  "prefer-lowest": false,
+  "platform": {
+    "php": "^7.1.3"
+  },
+  "platform-dev": []
+}
diff --git a/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml b/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cdf4cb4feba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/osv-scanner/fixtures/config-invalid/osv-scanner.toml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+!
diff --git a/cmd/osv-scanner/main_test.go b/cmd/osv-scanner/main_test.go
index b33522bfe13..899150473cc 100644
--- a/cmd/osv-scanner/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/osv-scanner/main_test.go
@@ -318,6 +318,17 @@ func TestRun(t *testing.T) {
 			args: []string{"", "--config=./fixtures/osv-scanner-composite-config.toml", "--experimental-licenses", "MIT", "./fixtures/locks-many", "./fixtures/locks-insecure"},
 			exit: 1,
 		},
+		// invalid config file
+		{
+			name: "config file is invalid",
+			args: []string{"", "./fixtures/config-invalid"},
+			exit: 127,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "config file is invalid",
+			args: []string{"", "--verbosity", "verbose", "./fixtures/config-invalid"},
+			exit: 127,
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index e95bee3918e..05c23b5e9bf 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -175,6 +176,11 @@ func (c *ConfigManager) Get(r reporter.Reporter, targetPath string) Config {
 	if configErr == nil {
 		r.Infof("Loaded filter from: %s\n", config.LoadPath)
 	} else {
+		// anything other than the config file not existing is most likely due to an invalid config file
+		if !errors.Is(configErr, os.ErrNotExist) {
+			r.Errorf("Ignored invalid config file at: %s\n", configPath)
+			r.Verbosef("Config file %s is invalid because: %v\n", configPath, configErr)
+		}
 		// If config doesn't exist, use the default config
 		config = c.DefaultConfig
 	}
@@ -211,12 +217,12 @@ func tryLoadConfig(configPath string) (Config, error) {
 
 		_, err := toml.NewDecoder(file).Decode(&config)
 		if err != nil {
-			return Config{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse config file: %w", err)
+			return Config{}, err
 		}
 		config.LoadPath = configPath
 
 		return config, nil
 	}
 
-	return Config{}, fmt.Errorf("no config file found on this path: %s", configPath)
+	return Config{}, err
 }