diff --git a/src/core/emergency-action.c b/src/core/emergency-action.c
index 181da27f7a..8f0dc422ad 100644
--- a/src/core/emergency-action.c
+++ b/src/core/emergency-action.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #include "ansi-color.h"
 #include "emergency-action.h"
+#include "exit-status.h"
 #include "manager.h"
 #include "reboot-util.h"
 #include "special.h"
@@ -154,6 +155,10 @@ void emergency_action(
 
                 if (exit_status >= 0)
                         m->return_value = exit_status;
+                else if (FLAGS_SET(flags, EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE) && m->return_value == EXIT_SUCCESS)
+                        /* Nothing to propagate, but we act on a failure: don't report success. An exit
+                         * status set explicitly via SetExitCode() stays. */
+                        m->return_value = EXIT_EXCEPTION;
 
                 if (MANAGER_IS_USER(m) || detect_container() > 0) {
                         log_and_status(m, action, flags, "Exiting", reason);
@@ -173,6 +178,10 @@ void emergency_action(
 
                 if (exit_status >= 0)
                         m->return_value = exit_status;
+                else if (FLAGS_SET(flags, EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE) && m->return_value == EXIT_SUCCESS)
+                        /* Nothing to propagate, but we act on a failure: don't report success. An exit
+                         * status set explicitly via SetExitCode() stays. */
+                        m->return_value = EXIT_EXCEPTION;
 
                 if (MANAGER_IS_USER(m) || detect_container() > 0) {
                         log_and_status(m, action, flags, "Exiting immediately", reason);
diff --git a/src/core/emergency-action.h b/src/core/emergency-action.h
index 17f306507f..3d9029414b 100644
--- a/src/core/emergency-action.h
+++ b/src/core/emergency-action.h
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ typedef enum EmergencyActionFlags {
         EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_WATCHDOG = 1 << 0, /* this action triggered by a watchdog or other kind of timeout */
         EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN        = 1 << 1, /* log at LOG_WARNING + write to system console */
         EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S    = 1 << 2, /* wait 5s before executing action; only honoured together with EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN */
-        _EMERGENCY_ACTION_FLAGS_MAX  = (1 << 3) - 1,
+        EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE  = 1 << 3, /* this action is triggered by a failure, hence must not make us exit 0 */
+        _EMERGENCY_ACTION_FLAGS_MAX  = (1 << 4) - 1,
 } EmergencyActionFlags;
 
 void emergency_action(
diff --git a/src/core/job.c b/src/core/job.c
index 2388d1de95..70e14b517f 100644
--- a/src/core/job.c
+++ b/src/core/job.c
@@ -1141,7 +1141,7 @@ static int job_dispatch_timer(sd_event_source *s, uint64_t monotonic, void *user
         emergency_action(
                         u->manager,
                         u->job_timeout_action,
-                        EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_WATCHDOG|EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S,
+                        EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_WATCHDOG|EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S|EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE,
                         u->job_timeout_reboot_arg,
                         /* exit_status= */ -1,
                         "job timed out");
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index 44d5c8dea9..28a4af186b 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -1888,7 +1888,7 @@ int unit_test_start_limit(Unit *u) {
         emergency_action(
                         u->manager,
                         u->start_limit_action,
-                        EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_WATCHDOG|EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S,
+                        EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_WATCHDOG|EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S|EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE,
                         u->reboot_arg,
                         /* exit_status= */ -1,
                         reason);
@@ -2844,7 +2844,7 @@ void unit_notify(Unit *u, UnitActiveState os, UnitActiveState ns, bool reload_su
 
                 if (os != UNIT_FAILED && ns == UNIT_FAILED) {
                         reason = strjoina("unit ", u->id, " failed");
-                        emergency_action(m, u->failure_action, EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S, u->reboot_arg, unit_failure_action_exit_status(u), reason);
+                        emergency_action(m, u->failure_action, EMERGENCY_ACTION_WARN|EMERGENCY_ACTION_SLEEP_5S|EMERGENCY_ACTION_IS_FAILURE, u->reboot_arg, unit_failure_action_exit_status(u), reason);
                 } else if (!UNIT_IS_INACTIVE_OR_FAILED(os) && ns == UNIT_INACTIVE) {
                         reason = strjoina("unit ", u->id, " succeeded");
                         emergency_action(m, u->success_action, /* flags= */ 0, u->reboot_arg, unit_success_action_exit_status(u), reason);