diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.test.ts
index 75aa463a331..1361add9df7 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.test.ts
@@ -649,18 +649,32 @@ describe('classifyUpdateCheckError', () => {
     );
   });
 
-  it.each([
-    'ENOTFOUND',
-    'ECONNREFUSED',
-    'EAI_AGAIN',
-    'ETIMEDOUT',
-    'ENETUNREACH',
-  ])('classifies %s errors as offline', (code) => {
-    const error = new Error(`request failed`) as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
-    error.code = code;
-    expect(classifyUpdateCheckError(error)).toBe('offline');
+  it('classifies execFile timeouts as timeout', () => {
+    const error = Object.assign(new Error('Command failed: npm view'), {
+      code: null,
+      killed: true,
+      signal: 'SIGTERM',
+    });
+
+    expect(classifyUpdateCheckError(error)).toBe('timeout');
+  });
+
+  it('classifies ETIMEDOUT errors as timeout', () => {
+    const error = new Error('request failed') as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+    error.code = 'ETIMEDOUT';
+
+    expect(classifyUpdateCheckError(error)).toBe('timeout');
   });
 
+  it.each(['ENOTFOUND', 'ECONNREFUSED', 'EAI_AGAIN', 'ENETUNREACH'])(
+    'classifies %s errors as offline',
+    (code) => {
+      const error = new Error(`request failed`) as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+      error.code = code;
+      expect(classifyUpdateCheckError(error)).toBe('offline');
+    },
+  );
+
   it('classifies network codes embedded in the message as offline', () => {
     // npm child-process failures surface the code inside stderr text only.
     expect(
@@ -670,6 +684,15 @@ describe('classifyUpdateCheckError', () => {
     ).toBe('offline');
   });
 
+  it('classifies network codes from the error cause as offline', () => {
+    const cause = new Error('getaddrinfo failed') as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+    cause.code = 'ENOTFOUND';
+
+    expect(
+      classifyUpdateCheckError(new TypeError('fetch failed', { cause })),
+    ).toBe('offline');
+  });
+
   it('classifies other errors as registry', () => {
     expect(classifyUpdateCheckError(new Error('404 Not Found'))).toBe(
       'registry',
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.ts
index 595503ac8de..657b3dad5a9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/updateCheck.ts
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ const NETWORK_ERROR_CODES = [
   'ENOTFOUND',
   'ECONNREFUSED',
   'EAI_AGAIN',
-  'ETIMEDOUT',
   'ENETUNREACH',
 ];
 
@@ -66,16 +65,27 @@ const NETWORK_ERROR_CODES = [
 export function classifyUpdateCheckError(
   error: unknown,
 ): UpdateCheckFailureReason {
-  if (error instanceof UpdateCheckTimeoutError) return 'timeout';
   if (error instanceof Error) {
-    const code = (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code;
+    const errors = [error];
+    if (error.cause instanceof Error) errors.push(error.cause);
+    const matchesCode = (code: string) =>
+      errors.some(
+        (error) =>
+          (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === code ||
+          error.message.includes(code),
+      );
+
     if (
-      NETWORK_ERROR_CODES.some(
-        (netCode) => code === netCode || error.message.includes(netCode),
-      )
+      errors.some((error) => error instanceof UpdateCheckTimeoutError) ||
+      ('killed' in error &&
+        error.killed === true &&
+        'signal' in error &&
+        error.signal === 'SIGTERM') ||
+      matchesCode('ETIMEDOUT')
     ) {
-      return 'offline';
+      return 'timeout';
     }
+    if (NETWORK_ERROR_CODES.some(matchesCode)) return 'offline';
   }
   return 'registry';
 }