diff --git a/ipalib/cli.py b/ipalib/cli.py
index a95648533..f9839a78e 100644
--- a/ipalib/cli.py
+++ b/ipalib/cli.py
@@ -1284,14 +1284,14 @@ class cli(backend.Executioner):
                     except IOError as e:
                         raise ValidationError(
                             name=to_cli(p.cli_name),
-                            error='%s: %s:' % (fname, e[1])
+                            error='%s: %s:' % (fname, e.args[1])
                         )
                 elif p.stdin_if_missing:
                     try:
                         raw = sys.stdin.read()
                     except IOError as e:
                         raise ValidationError(
-                            name=to_cli(p.cli_name), error=e[1]
+                            name=to_cli(p.cli_name), error=e.args[1]
                         )
 
                 if raw:
diff --git a/ipalib/plugins/vault.py b/ipalib/plugins/vault.py
index 0cf6f1d24..4d8419e75 100644
--- a/ipalib/plugins/vault.py
+++ b/ipalib/plugins/vault.py
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ def validated_read(argname, filename, mode='r', encoding=None):
         raise errors.ValidationError(
             name=argname,
             error=_("Cannot read file '%(filename)s': %(exc)s") % {
-                'filename': filename, 'exc': exc[1]
+                'filename': filename, 'exc': exc.args[1]
                 }
         )
     except UnicodeError as exc:
@@ -1547,7 +1547,7 @@ class vault_archive(PKQuery, Local):
             except OSError as exc:
                 raise errors.ValidationError(name="in", error=_(
                     "Cannot read file '%(filename)s': %(exc)s")
-                    % {'filename': input_file, 'exc': exc[1]})
+                    % {'filename': input_file, 'exc': exc.args[1]})
             if stat.st_size > MAX_VAULT_DATA_SIZE:
                 raise errors.ValidationError(name="in", error=_(
                     "Size of data exceeds the limit. Current vault data size "