diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/commands/internal/PmdCommand.java b/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/commands/internal/PmdCommand.java
index 02a5804c98..4e15aa0f84 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/commands/internal/PmdCommand.java
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/commands/internal/PmdCommand.java
@@ -330,6 +330,8 @@ public class PmdCommand extends AbstractAnalysisPmdSubcommand<PMDConfiguration>
                 if (pmdReporter.numErrors() > 0) {
                     // processing errors are ignored
                     return CliExitCode.ERROR;
+                } else if (stats.getNumErrors() > 0) {
+                    return CliExitCode.VIOLATIONS_OR_PROCESSING_ERRORS;
                 } else if (stats.getNumViolations() > 0 && configuration.isFailOnViolation()) {
                     return CliExitCode.VIOLATIONS_FOUND;
                 } else {
diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
index 85958562fd..275da2b43b 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/test/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/PmdCliTest.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import static net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.internal.CliExitCode.ERROR;
 import static net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.internal.CliExitCode.OK;
 import static net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.internal.CliExitCode.USAGE_ERROR;
 import static net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.internal.CliExitCode.VIOLATIONS_FOUND;
+import static net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.internal.CliExitCode.VIOLATIONS_OR_PROCESSING_ERRORS;
 import static net.sourceforge.pmd.util.CollectionUtil.listOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
@@ -318,6 +319,16 @@ class PmdCliTest extends BaseCliTest {
             ));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void exitStatusWithProcessingErrors() throws Exception {
+        runCli(VIOLATIONS_OR_PROCESSING_ERRORS, "--use-version", "dummy-parserThrows",
+                "-d", srcDir.toString(), "-f", "text", "-R", RULESET_WITH_VIOLATION)
+            .verify(r -> {
+                r.checkStdOut(containsString("someSource.dummy\t-\tParseException: Parse exception: ohio"));
+                r.checkStdErr(containsString("An error occurred while executing PMD."));
+            });
+    }
+
     @Test
     void testZipFileAsSource() throws Exception {
         Path zipArchive = createTemporaryZipArchive("sources.zip");
diff --git a/pmd-cli/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/RuleSetWithViolations.xml b/pmd-cli/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/RuleSetWithViolations.xml
index 8049a8b63b..4243101b43 100644
--- a/pmd-cli/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/RuleSetWithViolations.xml
+++ b/pmd-cli/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/cli/RuleSetWithViolations.xml
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
     xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/ruleset/2.0.0 https://pmd.sourceforge.io/ruleset_2_0_0.xsd">
 
     <description>
-  Ruleset used by test RuleSetFactoryTest
+  Ruleset used by test net.sourceforge.pmd.cli.PmdCliTest
   </description>
 
     <rule name="ReportAllRootNodes" language="dummy" since="1.0" message="Violation from ReportAllRootNodes"
           class="net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.XPathRule"
-        externalInfoUrl="${pmd.website.baseurl}/rules/test/TestRuleset3.xml#Ruleset3Rule1">
+        externalInfoUrl="${pmd.website.baseurl}/rules/test/RuleSetWithViolations.xml#ReportAllRootNodes">
         <description>Just for test</description>
         <priority>3</priority>
         <properties>
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/reporting/ReportStats.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/reporting/ReportStats.java
index eef7cd7dc5..9ac07837a3 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/reporting/ReportStats.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/reporting/ReportStats.java
@@ -23,10 +23,16 @@ public final class ReportStats {
         return new ReportStats(0, 0);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Count of processing errors.
+     */
     public int getNumErrors() {
         return numErrors;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Count of found rule violations.
+     */
     public int getNumViolations() {
         return numViolations;
     }