diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/rpc.py b/Lib/idlelib/rpc.py
index c86c97531e1..9c51b8f6b52 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/rpc.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/rpc.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class SocketIO(object):
 
     def exithook(self):
         "override for specific exit action"
-        os._exit()
+        os._exit(0)
 
     def debug(self, *args):
         if not self.debugging:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index b5ea6c8ba60..03b3c4f4276 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -297,6 +297,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #6649: Fixed missing exit status in IDLE. Patch by Guilherme Polo.
+
 - Issue #17435: threading.Timer's __init__ method no longer uses mutable
   default values for the args and kwargs parameters.