diff --git a/lib/internal/errors.js b/lib/internal/errors.js
index 4f833741cf999f..bd68c9bd554582 100644
--- a/lib/internal/errors.js
+++ b/lib/internal/errors.js
@@ -1604,8 +1604,8 @@ E('ERR_TAP_VALIDATION_ERROR', function(errorMsg) {
 }, Error);
 E('ERR_TEST_FAILURE', function(error, failureType) {
   hideInternalStackFrames(this);
-  assert(typeof failureType === 'string',
-         "The 'failureType' argument must be of type string.");
+  assert(typeof failureType === 'string' || typeof failureType === 'symbol',
+         "The 'failureType' argument must be of type string or symbol.");
 
   let msg = error?.message ?? error;
 
diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/harness.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/harness.js
index e88faf1e1694dc..2ee09c66b3e3c3 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/harness.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/harness.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const { exitCodes: { kGenericUserError } } = internalBinding('errors');
 const { kEmptyObject } = require('internal/util');
 const { kCancelledByParent, Test, ItTest, Suite } = require('internal/test_runner/test');
 const {
+  kAsyncBootstrapFailure,
   parseCommandLine,
   setupTestReporters,
 } = require('internal/test_runner/utils');
@@ -32,6 +33,13 @@ function createTestTree(options = kEmptyObject) {
 
 function createProcessEventHandler(eventName, rootTest) {
   return (err) => {
+    if (err?.failureType === kAsyncBootstrapFailure) {
+      // Something went wrong during the asynchronous portion of bootstrapping
+      // the test runner. Since the test runner is not setup properly, we can't
+      // do anything but throw the error.
+      throw err.cause;
+    }
+
     // Check if this error is coming from a test. If it is, fail the test.
     const test = testResources.get(executionAsyncId());
 
diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
index ba7dbe57ba1784..72270e464248a5 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const {
   RegExp,
   RegExpPrototypeExec,
   SafeMap,
+  Symbol,
 } = primordials;
 const { basename } = require('path');
 const { createWriteStream } = require('fs');
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@ const {
 } = require('internal/errors');
 const { compose } = require('stream');
 
+const kAsyncBootstrapFailure = Symbol('asyncBootstrapFailure');
 const kMultipleCallbackInvocations = 'multipleCallbackInvocations';
 const kRegExpPattern = /^\/(.*)\/([a-z]*)$/;
 const kSupportedFileExtensions = /\.[cm]?js$/;
@@ -149,11 +151,15 @@ async function getReportersMap(reporters, destinations) {
 
 
 async function setupTestReporters(testsStream) {
-  const { reporters, destinations } = parseCommandLine();
-  const reportersMap = await getReportersMap(reporters, destinations);
-  for (let i = 0; i < reportersMap.length; i++) {
-    const { reporter, destination } = reportersMap[i];
-    compose(testsStream, reporter).pipe(destination);
+  try {
+    const { reporters, destinations } = parseCommandLine();
+    const reportersMap = await getReportersMap(reporters, destinations);
+    for (let i = 0; i < reportersMap.length; i++) {
+      const { reporter, destination } = reportersMap[i];
+      compose(testsStream, reporter).pipe(destination);
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw new ERR_TEST_FAILURE(err, kAsyncBootstrapFailure);
   }
 }
 
@@ -219,6 +225,7 @@ module.exports = {
   doesPathMatchFilter,
   isSupportedFileType,
   isTestFailureError,
+  kAsyncBootstrapFailure,
   parseCommandLine,
   setupTestReporters,
 };
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-runner-reporters.js b/test/parallel/test-runner-reporters.js
index 5961fd8752d176..81074abc9fc838 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-runner-reporters.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-runner-reporters.js
@@ -116,4 +116,16 @@ describe('node:test reporters', { concurrency: true }, () => {
       /^package: reporter-esm{"test:start":4,"test:pass":2,"test:fail":2,"test:plan":2,"test:diagnostic":\d+}$/,
     );
   });
+
+  it('should throw when reporter setup throws asynchronously', async () => {
+    const child = spawnSync(
+      process.execPath,
+      ['--test', '--test-reporter', fixtures.fileURL('empty.js'), 'reporters.js'],
+      { cwd: fixtures.path('test-runner') }
+    );
+    assert.strictEqual(child.status, 7);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.stdout.toString(), '');
+    assert.match(child.stderr.toString(), /ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE/);
+  });
 });