diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 042fb893e2..a33eca3c77 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2016-05-30  Adhemerval Zanella  <adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org>
+
+	[BZ #20178]
+	* sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/spawni.c (__spawni_child): Call _exit
+	on failure instead of exit.
+
 2016-05-30  Roland McGrath  <roland@hack.frob.com>
 
 	[BZ #3629]
diff --git a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/spawni.c b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/spawni.c
index ee05de5a9b..bb3eecfde1 100644
--- a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/spawni.c
+++ b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/spawni.c
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ fail:
   if (ret)
     while (write_not_cancel (p, &ret, sizeof ret) < 0)
       continue;
-  exit (SPAWN_ERROR);
+  _exit (SPAWN_ERROR);
 }
 
 /* Spawn a new process executing PATH with the attributes describes in *ATTRP.