diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParser.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParser.java
index 12a1ef4dbe6..605bb2a4d36 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParser.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParser.java
@@ -136,16 +136,18 @@ public class ReportingAttachmentParser implements EmailAttachmentParser<Reportin
                 logger.trace("Watch[{}] reporting[{}] pdf is not ready, polling in [{}] again", context.watch().id(), attachment.id(),
                         TimeValue.timeValueMillis(sleepMillis));
             } else if (response.status() >= 400) {
+                String body = response.body() != null ? response.body().utf8ToString() : null;
                 throw new ElasticsearchException("Watch[{}] reporting[{}] Error when polling pdf from host[{}], port[{}], " +
-                        "method[{}], path[{}], status[{}]", context.watch().id(), attachment.id(), request.host(), request.port(),
-                        request.method(), request.path(), reportGenerationResponse.status());
+                        "method[{}], path[{}], status[{}], body[{}]", context.watch().id(), attachment.id(), request.host(),
+                        request.port(), request.method(), request.path(), response.status(), body);
             } else if (response.status() == 200) {
                 return new Attachment.Bytes(attachment.id(), BytesReference.toBytes(response.body()),
                         response.contentType(), attachment.inline());
             } else {
+                String body = response.body() != null ? response.body().utf8ToString() : null;
                 String message = LoggerMessageFormat.format("", "Watch[{}] reporting[{}] Unexpected status code host[{}], port[{}], " +
-                                "method[{}], path[{}], status[{}]", context.watch().id(), attachment.id(), request.host(), request.port(),
-                        request.method(), request.path(), reportGenerationResponse.status());
+                                "method[{}], path[{}], status[{}], body[{}]", context.watch().id(), attachment.id(), request.host(),
+                        request.port(), request.method(), request.path(), response.status(), body);
                 throw new IllegalStateException(message);
             }
         }
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParserTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParserTests.java
index 17a629a200f..174be4df9d3 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParserTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/notification/email/attachment/ReportingAttachmentParserTests.java
@@ -240,9 +240,10 @@ public class ReportingAttachmentParserTests extends ESTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testPollingRequestIsError() throws Exception {
+        boolean hasBody = randomBoolean();
         when(httpClient.execute(any(HttpRequest.class)))
                 .thenReturn(new HttpResponse(200, "{\"path\":\"whatever\"}"))
-                .thenReturn(new HttpResponse(403));
+                .thenReturn(new HttpResponse(403, hasBody ? "no permissions" : null));
 
         ReportingAttachment attachment =
                 new ReportingAttachment("foo", "http://www.example.org/", randomBoolean(), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(1), 10, null, null);
@@ -250,6 +251,9 @@ public class ReportingAttachmentParserTests extends ESTestCase {
         ElasticsearchException e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchException.class,
                 () -> reportingAttachmentParser.toAttachment(createWatchExecutionContext(), Payload.EMPTY, attachment));
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Error when polling pdf"));
+        if (hasBody) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("body[no permissions]"));
+        }
     }
 
     public void testPollingRequestRetryIsExceeded() throws Exception {