diff --git a/src/tarantool.cc b/src/tarantool.cc
index a0c75c6a6701233a4a448bff1ee97322abff391d..25703593257b2f2b57781f3b3f005e4d051eda79 100644
--- a/src/tarantool.cc
+++ b/src/tarantool.cc
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ load_cfg()
 {
 	const char *work_dir = cfg_gets("work_dir");
 	if (work_dir != NULL && chdir(work_dir) == -1)
-		say_syserror("can't chdir to `%s'", work_dir);
+		panic_syserror("can't chdir to `%s'", work_dir);
 
 	const char *username = cfg_gets("username");
 	if (username != NULL) {
diff --git a/test/app/cfg.result b/test/app/cfg.result
index d3cd54ca9b9fbf32df02d086bd317e44bf49019b..1b10cb8f4dbb76a40fd96bfcdf3b30f015c09f0b 100644
--- a/test/app/cfg.result
+++ b/test/app/cfg.result
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 TAP version 13
-1..17
+1..18
 ok - box is not started
 ok - invalid replication_source
 ok - invalid wal_mode
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ ok - cfg.wal_mode change
 ok - cfg.wal_mode default value
 ok - cfg.wal_mode change
 ok - cfg.wal_mode default value
+ok - work_dir is invalid
 ok - sophia_dir is invalid
 ok - snap_dir is invalid
 ok - wal_dir is invalid
diff --git a/test/app/cfg.test.lua b/test/app/cfg.test.lua
index 4e2d228b08c6bb0a5826be6e865921f0e242e676..286318fdcaf2abe95f5f88782a17e25fdb1f8e4f 100755
--- a/test/app/cfg.test.lua
+++ b/test/app/cfg.test.lua
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 local tap = require('tap')
 local test = tap.test('cfg')
-test:plan(17)
+test:plan(18)
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- Invalid values
@@ -67,6 +67,11 @@ test:is(box.cfg.wal_mode, "write", "cfg.wal_mode default value")
 
 -- gh-684: Inconsistency with box.cfg and directories
 local script = io.open('script.lua', 'w')
+script:write([[ box.cfg{ logger="tarantool.log", work_dir='invalid' } ]])
+script:close()
+test:isnt(os.execute("/bin/sh -c 'tarantool ./script.lua 2> /dev/null'"), 0, 'work_dir is invalid')
+
+script = io.open('script.lua', 'w')
 script:write([[ pcall( box.cfg, { logger="tarantool.log", sophia_dir='invalid' }) ]])
 script:close()
 test:isnt(os.execute("/bin/sh -c 'tarantool ./script.lua 2> /dev/null'"), 0, 'sophia_dir is invalid')