diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/LinuxContainerExecutor.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/LinuxContainerExecutor.java
index ea4595dffc..a28a6fc411 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/LinuxContainerExecutor.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/LinuxContainerExecutor.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -787,9 +788,18 @@ public boolean signalContainer(ContainerSignalContext ctx)
       LOG.warn("Error in signalling container {} with {}; exit = {}",
           pid, signal, retCode, e);
       logOutput(e.getOutput());
-      throw new IOException("Problem signalling container " + pid + " with "
-          + signal + "; output: " + e.getOutput() + " and exitCode: "
-          + retCode, e);
+
+      // In ContainerExecutionException -1 is the default value for the exit code.
+      // If it remained unset, we can treat the signalling as interrupted.
+      if (retCode == ContainerExecutionException.getDefaultExitCode()) {
+        throw new InterruptedIOException("Signalling container " + pid + " with "
+            + signal + " is interrupted; output: " + e.getOutput() + " and exitCode: "
+            + retCode);
+      } else {
+        throw new IOException("Problem signalling container " + pid + " with "
+            + signal + "; output: " + e.getOutput() + " and exitCode: "
+            + retCode, e);
+      }
     }
     return true;
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoverPausedContainerLaunch.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoverPausedContainerLaunch.java
index c678c91860..a56a4531de 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoverPausedContainerLaunch.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoverPausedContainerLaunch.java
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ public Integer call() {
 
     dispatcher.getEventHandler().handle(new ContainerEvent(containerId,
         ContainerEventType.RECOVER_PAUSED_CONTAINER));
-    boolean notInterrupted = true;
+    boolean interrupted = false;
     try {
       File pidFile = locatePidFile(appIdStr, containerIdStr);
       if (pidFile != null) {
@@ -87,11 +87,11 @@ public Integer call() {
 
     } catch (InterruptedException | InterruptedIOException e) {
       LOG.warn("Interrupted while waiting for exit code from " + containerId);
-      notInterrupted = false;
+      interrupted = true;
     } catch (IOException e) {
       LOG.error("Unable to kill the paused container " + containerIdStr, e);
     } finally {
-      if (notInterrupted) {
+      if (!interrupted) {
         this.completed.set(true);
         exec.deactivateContainer(containerId);
         try {
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoveredContainerLaunch.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoveredContainerLaunch.java
index 17ddd77857..0dcffe6afe 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoveredContainerLaunch.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/launcher/RecoveredContainerLaunch.java
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ public Integer call() {
     dispatcher.getEventHandler().handle(new ContainerEvent(containerId,
         ContainerEventType.CONTAINER_LAUNCHED));
 
-    boolean notInterrupted = true;
+    boolean interrupted = false;
     try {
       File pidFile = locatePidFile(appIdStr, containerIdStr);
       if (pidFile != null) {
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@ public Integer call() {
       }
     } catch (InterruptedException | InterruptedIOException e) {
       LOG.warn("Interrupted while waiting for exit code from " + containerId);
-      notInterrupted = false;
+      interrupted = true;
     } catch (IOException e) {
       LOG.error("Unable to recover container " + containerIdStr, e);
     } finally {
-      if (notInterrupted) {
+      if (!interrupted) {
         this.completed.set(true);
         exec.deactivateContainer(containerId);
         try {
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/runtime/ContainerExecutionException.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/runtime/ContainerExecutionException.java
index 735db1f608..dbb2b5138f 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/runtime/ContainerExecutionException.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/containermanager/runtime/ContainerExecutionException.java
@@ -88,4 +88,8 @@ public String getErrorOutput() {
     return errorOutput;
   }
 
+  public static int getDefaultExitCode() {
+    return EXIT_CODE_UNSET;
+  }
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestLinuxContainerExecutor.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestLinuxContainerExecutor.java
index 8918588bf3..69e7b3bc00 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestLinuxContainerExecutor.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-nodemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/nodemanager/TestLinuxContainerExecutor.java
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doNothing;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doThrow;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.spy;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
@@ -33,6 +36,8 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.containermanager.linux.runtime.LinuxContainerRuntime;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.containermanager.runtime.ContainerExecutionException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.containermanager.runtime.ContainerRuntimeContext;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.executor.ContainerExecContext;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.executor.ContainerReapContext;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -41,6 +46,7 @@
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -725,6 +731,44 @@ public void testGetLocalResources() throws Exception {
     verify(lce, times(1)).getLocalResources(container);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSignalContainerFailureWhenExitCodeIsPresentInTheException()
+      throws ContainerExecutionException {
+    LinuxContainerRuntime containerRuntime = mock(LinuxContainerRuntime.class);
+    LinuxContainerExecutor containerExecutor = spy(new LinuxContainerExecutor(
+        containerRuntime));
+    ContainerSignalContext signalContext = new ContainerSignalContext.Builder().build();
+    ContainerExecutionException testException =
+        new ContainerExecutionException("exceptionWithExitCode", 123);
+
+    doNothing().when(containerExecutor).verifyUsernamePattern(any());
+    doThrow(testException)
+        .when(containerRuntime)
+        .signalContainer(any(ContainerRuntimeContext.class));
+
+    assertThrows(IOException.class,
+        () -> containerExecutor.signalContainer(signalContext));
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testSignalContainerFailureWhenExitCodeIsNotPresentInTheException()
+      throws ContainerExecutionException {
+    LinuxContainerRuntime containerRuntime = mock(LinuxContainerRuntime.class);
+    LinuxContainerExecutor containerExecutor = spy(new LinuxContainerExecutor(
+        containerRuntime));
+    ContainerSignalContext signalContext = new ContainerSignalContext.Builder().build();
+    ContainerExecutionException testException =
+        new ContainerExecutionException("exceptionWithoutExitCode");
+
+    doNothing().when(containerExecutor).verifyUsernamePattern(any());
+    doThrow(testException)
+        .when(containerRuntime)
+        .signalContainer(any(ContainerRuntimeContext.class));
+
+    assertThrows(InterruptedIOException.class,
+        () -> containerExecutor.signalContainer(signalContext));
+  }
+
   @Deprecated
   private static class TestResourceHandler implements LCEResourcesHandler {
     static Set<ContainerId> postExecContainers = new HashSet<ContainerId>();