diff --git a/configs/resource.go b/configs/resource.go
index 72adf66f0..9b0e4ef1e 100644
--- a/configs/resource.go
+++ b/configs/resource.go
@@ -422,6 +422,9 @@ func decodeProviderConfigRef(expr hcl.Expression, argName string) (*ProviderConf
 	name := traversal.RootName()
 	nameDiags := checkProviderNameNormalized(name, traversal[0].SourceRange())
 	diags = append(diags, nameDiags...)
+	if diags.HasErrors() {
+		return nil, diags
+	}
 
 	ret := &ProviderConfigRef{
 		Name:      name,
diff --git a/configs/testdata/invalid-files/data-invalid-provider-reference.tf b/configs/testdata/invalid-files/data-invalid-provider-reference.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aef92fd33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/testdata/invalid-files/data-invalid-provider-reference.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+data "test_resource" "t" {
+  provider = my_test
+}
diff --git a/configs/testdata/invalid-files/resource-invalid-provider-reference.tf b/configs/testdata/invalid-files/resource-invalid-provider-reference.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6fe675f27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/testdata/invalid-files/resource-invalid-provider-reference.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+resource "test_resource" "t" {
+  provider = my_test
+}