diff --git a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace-async.js b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace-async.js
index 06f4f89075..7d05d727fb 100755
--- a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace-async.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace-async.js
@@ -46,4 +46,9 @@ async function onlyErrorOnRules(rulesToError, config) {
   return errorsOnly;
 }
 
-onlyErrorOnRules(whitespaceRules, baseConfig).then((config) => console.log(JSON.stringify(config)));
+onlyErrorOnRules(whitespaceRules, baseConfig)
+  .then((config) => console.log(JSON.stringify(config)))
+  .catch((err) => {
+    console.error(err);
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+  });
diff --git a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace.js b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace.js
index 01e5198671..d140453d46 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb-base/whitespace.js
@@ -52,10 +52,16 @@ if (CLIEngine) {
   const { execSync } = require('child_process');
 
   // NOTE: ESLint adds runtime statistics to the output (so it's no longer JSON) if TIMING is set
-  module.exports = JSON.parse(String(execSync(path.join(__dirname, 'whitespace-async.js'), {
-    env: {
-      ...process.env,
-      TIMING: undefined,
-    }
-  })));
+  try {
+    const stdout = execSync(path.join(__dirname, 'whitespace-async.js'), {
+      env: {
+        ...process.env,
+        TIMING: undefined,
+      },
+      encoding: 'utf8',
+    });
+    module.exports = JSON.parse(stdout);
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw new Error(`Failed to load whitespace rules from whitespace-async.js: ${err.message}`, { cause: err });
+  }
 }
diff --git a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace-async.js b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace-async.js
index 06f4f89075..7d05d727fb 100755
--- a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace-async.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace-async.js
@@ -46,4 +46,9 @@ async function onlyErrorOnRules(rulesToError, config) {
   return errorsOnly;
 }
 
-onlyErrorOnRules(whitespaceRules, baseConfig).then((config) => console.log(JSON.stringify(config)));
+onlyErrorOnRules(whitespaceRules, baseConfig)
+  .then((config) => console.log(JSON.stringify(config)))
+  .catch((err) => {
+    console.error(err);
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+  });
diff --git a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace.js b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace.js
index 01e5198671..d140453d46 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace.js
+++ b/packages/eslint-config-airbnb/whitespace.js
@@ -52,10 +52,16 @@ if (CLIEngine) {
   const { execSync } = require('child_process');
 
   // NOTE: ESLint adds runtime statistics to the output (so it's no longer JSON) if TIMING is set
-  module.exports = JSON.parse(String(execSync(path.join(__dirname, 'whitespace-async.js'), {
-    env: {
-      ...process.env,
-      TIMING: undefined,
-    }
-  })));
+  try {
+    const stdout = execSync(path.join(__dirname, 'whitespace-async.js'), {
+      env: {
+        ...process.env,
+        TIMING: undefined,
+      },
+      encoding: 'utf8',
+    });
+    module.exports = JSON.parse(stdout);
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw new Error(`Failed to load whitespace rules from whitespace-async.js: ${err.message}`, { cause: err });
+  }
 }