diff --git a/util/failover.py b/util/failover.py
index c1490b772..7e75d2140 100644
--- a/util/failover.py
+++ b/util/failover.py
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 class FailoverException(Exception):
   """ Exception raised when an operation should be retried by the failover decorator. """
-  def __init__(self, message):
+  def __init__(self, return_value, message):
     super(FailoverException, self).__init__()
+    self.return_value = return_value
     self.message = message
 
 def failover(func):
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ def failover(func):
         return func(*arg_set[0], **arg_set[1])
       except FailoverException as ex:
         logger.debug('failing over: %s', ex.message)
+        return_value = ex.return_value
         continue
-    raise FailoverException('exhausted all possible failovers')
+    return return_value
   return wrapper
diff --git a/util/secscan/api.py b/util/secscan/api.py
index 9bd0d8a49..5c242f46a 100644
--- a/util/secscan/api.py
+++ b/util/secscan/api.py
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ class SecurityScannerAPI(object):
     if self._config is None:
       raise Exception('Cannot call unconfigured security system')
 
-    timeout = self._config['SECURITY_SCANNER_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS']
+    timeout = self._config.get('SECURITY_SCANNER_API_TIMEOUT_SECONDS', 1)
     endpoint = self._config['SECURITY_SCANNER_ENDPOINT']
 
     with CloseForLongOperation(self._config):
@@ -346,12 +346,12 @@ class SecurityScannerAPI(object):
         return self._request(method, endpoint, path, body, params, timeout)
 
       # The request is read-only and can failover.
-      all_endpoints = [endpoint] + self._config['SECURITY_SCANNER_READONLY_FAILOVER_ENDPOINTS']
+      all_endpoints = [endpoint] + self._config.get('SECURITY_SCANNER_READONLY_FAILOVER_ENDPOINTS', [])
       try:
-        return  _failover_read_request(*[((self._request, endpoint, path, body, params, timeout), {})
+        return _failover_read_request(*[((self._request, endpoint, path, body, params, timeout), {})
                                         for endpoint in all_endpoints])
-      except FailoverException:
-        raise APIRequestFailure()
+      except FailoverException as ex:
+        return ex.return_value
 
 
 def _join_api_url(endpoint, api_version, path):
@@ -364,5 +364,5 @@ def _failover_read_request(request_fn, endpoint, path, body, params, timeout):
   """ This function auto-retries read-only requests until they return a 2xx status code. """
   resp = request_fn('GET', endpoint, path, body, params, timeout)
   if resp.status_code / 100 != 2:
-    raise FailoverException('status code was not 2xx')
+    raise FailoverException(resp, 'status code was not 2xx')
   return resp
diff --git a/util/test/test_failover.py b/util/test/test_failover.py
index 340092179..369ddea3a 100644
--- a/util/test/test_failover.py
+++ b/util/test/test_failover.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def my_failover_func(i, should_raise=None):
   i.increment()
   if should_raise is not None:
     raise should_raise()
-  raise FailoverException('incrementing')
+  raise FailoverException(None, 'incrementing')
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('stop_on,exception', [