diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pyrepl/test_pyrepl.py b/Lib/test/test_pyrepl/test_pyrepl.py
index 1a76832386bf1d..3ee71fe330895b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pyrepl/test_pyrepl.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pyrepl/test_pyrepl.py
@@ -1339,3 +1339,12 @@ def test_readline_history_file(self):
     def test_keyboard_interrupt_after_isearch(self):
         output, exit_code = self.run_repl(["\x12", "\x03", "exit"])
         self.assertEqual(exit_code, 0)
+
+    def test_exit_code(self):
+        _, exit_code = self.run_repl(["exit(128)"])
+        self.assertEqual(exit_code, 128)
+
+        env = os.environ.copy()
+        env["PYTHON_BASIC_REPL"] = "1"
+        _, exit_code = self.run_repl(["exit(64)"], env=env)
+        self.assertEqual(exit_code, 64)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-10-23-19-57-22.gh-issue-125880.JSLK_q.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-10-23-19-57-22.gh-issue-125880.JSLK_q.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..6d5413f24aa5be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-10-23-19-57-22.gh-issue-125880.JSLK_q.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a bug in PyREPL that caused :func:`exit` to always return 1.
diff --git a/Modules/main.c b/Modules/main.c
index 15ea49a1bad19e..31fa0f40092524 100644
--- a/Modules/main.c
+++ b/Modules/main.c
@@ -100,8 +100,7 @@ pymain_err_print(int *exitcode_p)
 {
     int exitcode;
     if (_Py_HandleSystemExit(&exitcode)) {
-        *exitcode_p = exitcode;
-        return 1;
+        Py_Exit(exitcode);
     }
 
     PyErr_Print();