diff --git a/modules/nextflow/src/main/groovy/nextflow/processor/TaskPollingMonitor.groovy b/modules/nextflow/src/main/groovy/nextflow/processor/TaskPollingMonitor.groovy
index a69042f659..29a820624e 100644
--- a/modules/nextflow/src/main/groovy/nextflow/processor/TaskPollingMonitor.groovy
+++ b/modules/nextflow/src/main/groovy/nextflow/processor/TaskPollingMonitor.groovy
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ class TaskPollingMonitor implements TaskMonitor {
 
             // finalize the task asynchronously
             if( enableAsyncFinalizer ) {
-                finalizerPool.submit( ()-> finalizeTask(handler) )
+                finalizerPool.submit( ()-> safeFinalizeTask(handler) )
             }
             else {
                 finalizeTask(handler)
@@ -671,6 +671,16 @@ class TaskPollingMonitor implements TaskMonitor {
         }
     }
 
+    protected void safeFinalizeTask(TaskHandler handler) {
+        try {
+            finalizeTask(handler)
+        }
+        catch (Throwable t) {
+            log.error "Unexpected error while finalizing task '${handler.task.name}' - cause: ${t.message}"
+            session.abort(t)
+        }
+    }
+
     protected void finalizeTask( TaskHandler handler ) {
         // finalize the task execution
         final fault = handler.task.processor.finalizeTask(handler.task)