diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
index 1cd63849de636..fe74f034e2933 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmit.scala
@@ -1022,11 +1022,19 @@ private[spark] class SparkSubmit extends Logging {
         e
     }
 
+    var exitCode: Int = 1
     try {
       app.start(childArgs.toArray, sparkConf)
+      exitCode = 0
     } catch {
       case t: Throwable =>
-        throw findCause(t)
+        val cause = findCause(t)
+        cause match {
+          case e: SparkUserAppException =>
+            exitCode = e.exitCode
+          case _ =>
+        }
+        throw cause
     } finally {
       if (args.master.startsWith("k8s") && !isShell(args.primaryResource) &&
           !isSqlShell(args.mainClass) && !isThriftServer(args.mainClass) &&
@@ -1037,6 +1045,12 @@ private[spark] class SparkSubmit extends Logging {
           case e: Throwable => logError("Failed to close SparkContext", e)
         }
       }
+      if (sparkConf.get(SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT)) {
+        logInfo(
+          log"Calling System.exit() with exit code ${MDC(LogKeys.EXIT_CODE, exitCode)} " +
+          log"because ${MDC(LogKeys.CONFIG, SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT.key)}=true")
+        exitFn(exitCode)
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
index b6a8b24f6fc77..0bee708bca3c7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
@@ -2311,6 +2311,15 @@ package object config {
     .toSequence
     .createWithDefault(Nil)
 
+  private[spark] val SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT =
+    ConfigBuilder("spark.submit.callSystemExitOnMainExit")
+      .doc("If true, SparkSubmit will call System.exit() to initiate JVM shutdown once the " +
+        "user's main method has exited. This can be useful in cases where non-daemon JVM " +
+        "threads might otherwise prevent the JVM from shutting down on its own.")
+      .version("4.1.0")
+      .booleanConf
+      .createWithDefault(false)
+
   private[spark] val SCHEDULER_ALLOCATION_FILE =
     ConfigBuilder("spark.scheduler.allocation.file")
       .version("0.8.1")
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitSuite.scala
index dbecad2df7689..0db8ba785fcbc 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitSuite.scala
@@ -1593,6 +1593,44 @@ class SparkSubmitSuite
       runSparkSubmit(argsSuccess, expectFailure = false))
   }
 
+  test("spark.submit.callSystemExitOnMainExit returns non-zero exit code on unclean main exit") {
+    val unusedJar = TestUtils.createJarWithClasses(Seq.empty)
+    val args = Seq(
+      "--class", MainThrowsUncaughtExceptionSparkApplicationTest.getClass.getName.stripSuffix("$"),
+      "--name", "testApp",
+      "--conf", s"${SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT.key}=true",
+      unusedJar.toString
+    )
+    assertResult(1)(runSparkSubmit(args, expectFailure = true))
+  }
+
+  test("spark.submit.callSystemExitOnMainExit calls system exit on clean main exit") {
+    val unusedJar = TestUtils.createJarWithClasses(Seq.empty)
+    val args = Seq(
+      "--class", NonDaemonThreadSparkApplicationTest.getClass.getName.stripSuffix("$"),
+      "--name", "testApp",
+      "--conf", s"${SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT.key}=true",
+      unusedJar.toString
+    )
+    // With SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT set to false, the non-daemon thread will
+    // prevent the JVM from beginning shutdown and the following call will fail with a
+    // timeout:
+    assertResult(0)(runSparkSubmit(args))
+  }
+
+  test("spark.submit.callSystemExitOnMainExit with main that explicitly calls System.exit") {
+    val unusedJar = TestUtils.createJarWithClasses(Seq.empty)
+    val args = Seq(
+      "--class",
+      MainExplicitlyCallsSystemExit3SparkApplicationTest.getClass.getName.stripSuffix("$"),
+      "--name", "testApp",
+      "--conf", s"${SUBMIT_CALL_SYSTEM_EXIT_ON_MAIN_EXIT.key}=true",
+      unusedJar.toString
+    )
+    // This main class explicitly exits with System.exit(3), hence this expected exit code:
+    assertResult(3)(runSparkSubmit(args, expectFailure = true))
+  }
+
   private def testRemoteResources(
       enableHttpFs: Boolean,
       forceDownloadSchemes: Seq[String] = Nil): Unit = {
@@ -1876,6 +1914,34 @@ object SimpleApplicationTest {
   }
 }
 
+object MainThrowsUncaughtExceptionSparkApplicationTest {
+  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
+    throw new Exception("User exception")
+  }
+}
+
+object NonDaemonThreadSparkApplicationTest {
+  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
+    val nonDaemonThread: Thread = new Thread {
+      override def run(): Unit = {
+        while (true) {
+          Thread.sleep(1000)
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    nonDaemonThread.setDaemon(false)
+    nonDaemonThread.setName("Non-Daemon-Thread")
+    nonDaemonThread.start()
+    // Fall off the end of the main method.
+  }
+}
+
+object MainExplicitlyCallsSystemExit3SparkApplicationTest {
+  def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
+    System.exit(3)
+  }
+}
+
 object UserClasspathFirstTest {
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
     val ccl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader()