diff --git a/lib/cli/exit-handler.js b/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
index fff95165a18de..e76b08c80a635 100644
--- a/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
+++ b/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
@@ -66,8 +66,9 @@ class ExitHandler {
   }
 
   #handleProcessExit (code) {
-    // Force exit code to a number if it has not been set
-    const exitCode = typeof code === 'number' ? code : (this.#exited ? 0 : 1)
+    const numCode = Number(code) || 0
+    // Always exit w/ a non-zero code if exit handler was not called
+    const exitCode = this.#exited ? numCode : (numCode || 1)
     this.#process.exitCode = exitCode
 
     if (this.#notLoadedOrExited) {
diff --git a/test/lib/cli/exit-handler.js b/test/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
index 90d130a399265..939c9617aff56 100644
--- a/test/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
+++ b/test/lib/cli/exit-handler.js
@@ -194,15 +194,16 @@ t.test('exit handler never called', async t => {
     const { logs, errors } = await mockExitHandler(t, {
       config: { loglevel: 'silent' },
     })
-    process.emit('exit', 1)
+    process.emit('exit', 0)
     t.strictSame(logs, [])
     t.strictSame(errors(), [''], 'one empty string')
+    t.equal(process.exitCode, 1)
   })
 
   t.test('loglevel notice', async (t) => {
     const { logs, errors } = await mockExitHandler(t)
-    process.emit('exit', 1)
-    t.equal(process.exitCode, 1)
+    process.emit('exit', 2)
+    t.equal(process.exitCode, 2)
     t.match(logs.error, [
       'Exit handler never called!',
       /error with npm itself/,