diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/issue-22120 b/changelog/unreleased/issue-22120
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a01f8af0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/issue-22120
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Enhancement: Show a concise error when listing pack files fails during `prune`
+
+When listing the pack files of a repository failed during `prune`, for
+example due to a request timeout, restic printed the error together with a
+stack trace. Restic now reports a short error message that states that
+listing the pack files failed.
+
+https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/22120
diff --git a/internal/repository/prune.go b/internal/repository/prune.go
index 451267fd3..687f0a8c5 100644
--- a/internal/repository/prune.go
+++ b/internal/repository/prune.go
@@ -467,7 +467,10 @@ func decidePackAction(ctx context.Context, opts PruneOptions, repo *Repository,
 
 	bar.Done()
 	if err != nil {
-		return PrunePlan{}, err
+		if errors.IsFatal(err) || ctx.Err() != nil {
+			return PrunePlan{}, err
+		}
+		return PrunePlan{}, errors.Fatalf("failed to list pack files: %v", err)
 	}
 
 	// At this point indexPacks contains only missing packs!
diff --git a/internal/repository/prune_test.go b/internal/repository/prune_test.go
index f514ddd7c..b6ddc8525 100644
--- a/internal/repository/prune_test.go
+++ b/internal/repository/prune_test.go
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@ package repository_test
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"math/rand"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/backend"
+	resticerrors "github.com/restic/restic/internal/errors"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/repository/pack"
 	"github.com/restic/restic/internal/restic"
@@ -191,3 +195,36 @@ func TestPruneSmall(t *testing.T) {
 	rtest.Equals(t, lenPackfilesBefore > lenPackfilesAfter, true,
 		fmt.Sprintf("the number packfiles before %d and after repack %d", lenPackfilesBefore, lenPackfilesAfter))
 }
+
+type failingListBackend struct {
+	backend.Backend
+	err error
+}
+
+func (b *failingListBackend) List(ctx context.Context, t backend.FileType, fn func(backend.FileInfo) error) error {
+	if t == backend.PackFile {
+		return b.err
+	}
+	return b.Backend.List(ctx, t, fn)
+}
+
+func TestPrunePackListError(t *testing.T) {
+	random := rand.New(rand.NewSource(1))
+	repo, _, be := repository.TestRepositoryWithVersion(t, 0)
+	createRandomBlobs(t, random, repo, 2, 0.5, true)
+
+	listErr := errors.New("request timeout")
+	repo = repository.TestOpenBackend(t, &failingListBackend{Backend: be, err: listErr})
+	rtest.OK(t, repo.LoadIndex(context.TODO(), restic.NoopTerminalCounterFactory))
+
+	_, err := repository.PlanPrune(context.TODO(), repository.PruneOptions{
+		MaxRepackBytes: math.MaxUint64,
+		MaxUnusedBytes: func(used uint64) uint64 { return used },
+	}, repo, func(ctx context.Context, repo restic.Repository, usedBlobs restic.FindBlobSet) error {
+		return nil
+	}, restic.NewNoopPrinter())
+	rtest.Assert(t, err != nil, "expected an error")
+	rtest.Assert(t, resticerrors.IsFatal(err), "expected a fatal error, got %v", err)
+	rtest.Assert(t, errors.Is(err, listErr), "expected error to wrap the list error, got %v", err)
+	rtest.Assert(t, strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to list pack files"), "unexpected message %q", err)
+}