diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index 4fa9ad6de2eec..81255726284b5 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -175,6 +175,11 @@ let
       # without running any commands. Because this will also skip `shopt -s extglob`
       # commands and extglob affects the Bash parser, we enable extglob always.
       shellDryRun = "${stdenv.shell} -n -O extglob";
+
+      tests = {
+        succeedOnFailure = import ../tests/succeedOnFailure.nix { inherit stdenv; };
+      };
+      passthru.tests = lib.warn "Use `stdenv.tests` instead. `passthru` is a `mkDerivation` detail." stdenv.tests;
     }
 
     # Propagate any extra attributes.  For instance, we use this to
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
index 62f9121d73d6b..c6cdb6c3df750 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/setup.sh
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ exitHandler() {
             echo "build failed with exit code $exitCode (ignored)"
             mkdir -p "$out/nix-support"
             printf "%s" "$exitCode" > "$out/nix-support/failed"
-            return 0
+            exit 0
         fi
 
     else
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/tests/succeedOnFailure.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/tests/succeedOnFailure.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..fef7f17869979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/tests/succeedOnFailure.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{ stdenv }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "stdenv-test-succeedOnFailure";
+
+  succeedOnFailure = true;
+
+  passAsFile = [ "buildCommand" ];
+  buildCommand = ''
+    mkdir $out
+    echo foo > $out/foo
+    exit 1
+  '';
+}