diff --git a/salt/utils/files.py b/salt/utils/files.py
index 65b4783c03..ec223c1685 100644
--- a/salt/utils/files.py
+++ b/salt/utils/files.py
@@ -205,10 +205,22 @@ def rename(src, dst):
         os.rename(src, dst)
 
 
-def process_read_exception(exc, path):
+def process_read_exception(exc, path, ignore=None):
     '''
     Common code for raising exceptions when reading a file fails
+
+    The ignore argument can be an iterable of integer error codes (or a single
+    integer error code) that should be ignored.
     '''
+    if ignore is not None:
+        if isinstance(ignore, six.integer_types):
+            ignore = (ignore,)
+    else:
+        ignore = ()
+
+    if exc.errno in ignore:
+        return
+
     if exc.errno == errno.ENOENT:
         raise CommandExecutionError('{0} does not exist'.format(path))
     elif exc.errno == errno.EACCES: