diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTunnelService.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTunnelService.ts
index 4138fd2192c..6d9dc1cb12a 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTunnelService.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTunnelService.ts
@@ -134,8 +134,14 @@ export class ExtHostTunnelService extends Disposable implements IExtHostTunnelSe
 		}
 
 		const ports: { host: string, port: number, detail: string }[] = [];
-		const tcp: string = fs.readFileSync('/proc/net/tcp', 'utf8');
-		const tcp6: string = fs.readFileSync('/proc/net/tcp6', 'utf8');
+		let tcp: string = '';
+		let tcp6: string = '';
+		try {
+			tcp = fs.readFileSync('/proc/net/tcp', 'utf8');
+			tcp6 = fs.readFileSync('/proc/net/tcp6', 'utf8');
+		} catch (e) {
+			// File reading error. No additional handling needed.
+		}
 		const procSockets: string = await (new Promise(resolve => {
 			exec('ls -l /proc/[0-9]*/fd/[0-9]* | grep socket:', (error, stdout, stderr) => {
 				resolve(stdout);