diff --git a/bitbake/bin/bitbake-diffsigs b/bitbake/bin/bitbake-diffsigs
index a8f49191b0..8202c78623 100755
--- a/bitbake/bin/bitbake-diffsigs
+++ b/bitbake/bin/bitbake-diffsigs
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def recursecb(key, hash1, hash2):
     elif hash2 not in hashfiles:
         recout.append("Unable to find matching sigdata for %s with hash %s" % (key, hash2))
     else:
-        out2 = bb.siggen.compare_sigfiles(hashfiles[hash1], hashfiles[hash2], recursecb, color=color)
+        out2 = bb.siggen.compare_sigfiles(hashfiles[hash1]['path'], hashfiles[hash2]['path'], recursecb, color=color)
         for change in out2:
             for line in change.splitlines():
                 recout.append('    ' + line)
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/siggen.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/siggen.py
index 5a584cadf9..58854aee76 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/siggen.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/siggen.py
@@ -849,10 +849,18 @@ def compare_sigfiles(a, b, recursecb=None, color=False, collapsed=False):
         formatparams.update(values)
         return formatstr.format(**formatparams)
 
-    with bb.compress.zstd.open(a, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
-        a_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
-    with bb.compress.zstd.open(b, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
-        b_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
+    try:
+        with bb.compress.zstd.open(a, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
+            a_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
+    except (TypeError, OSError) as err:
+        bb.error("Failed to open sigdata file '%s': %s" % (a, str(err)))
+        raise err
+    try:
+        with bb.compress.zstd.open(b, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
+            b_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
+    except (TypeError, OSError) as err:
+        bb.error("Failed to open sigdata file '%s': %s" % (b, str(err)))
+        raise err
 
     for data in [a_data, b_data]:
         handle_renames(data)
@@ -1090,8 +1098,12 @@ def calc_taskhash(sigdata):
 def dump_sigfile(a):
     output = []
 
-    with bb.compress.zstd.open(a, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
-        a_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
+    try:
+        with bb.compress.zstd.open(a, "rt", encoding="utf-8", num_threads=1) as f:
+            a_data = json.load(f, object_hook=SetDecoder)
+    except (TypeError, OSError) as err:
+        bb.error("Failed to open sigdata file '%s': %s" % (a, str(err)))
+        raise err
 
     handle_renames(a_data)