diff --git a/cmd/trivy/main.go b/cmd/trivy/main.go
index e3118ae8e97f..dbff5fa54ab1 100644
--- a/cmd/trivy/main.go
+++ b/cmd/trivy/main.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"os"
 
 	"golang.org/x/xerrors"
@@ -9,12 +10,17 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/commands"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/log"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/plugin"
+	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/types"
 
 	_ "modernc.org/sqlite" // sqlite driver for RPM DB and Java DB
 )
 
 func main() {
 	if err := run(); err != nil {
+		var exitError *types.ExitError
+		if errors.As(err, &exitError) {
+			os.Exit(exitError.Code)
+		}
 		log.Fatal("Fatal error", log.Err(err))
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cloud/aws/commands/run.go b/pkg/cloud/aws/commands/run.go
index 58744e752c79..374abbd91289 100644
--- a/pkg/cloud/aws/commands/run.go
+++ b/pkg/cloud/aws/commands/run.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/commands/operation"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/flag"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/log"
+	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/types"
 )
 
 var allSupportedServicesFunc = awsScanner.AllSupportedServices
@@ -170,6 +171,5 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, opt flag.Options) error {
 		return xerrors.Errorf("unable to write results: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	operation.Exit(opt, r.Failed())
-	return nil
+	return operation.Exit(opt, r.Failed(), types.Metadata{})
 }
diff --git a/pkg/commands/app.go b/pkg/commands/app.go
index 05e14ea87f82..af2902a14e0d 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/app.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/app.go
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ func loadPluginCommands() []*cobra.Command {
 				return nil
 			},
 			DisableFlagParsing: true,
+			SilenceUsage:       true,
+			SilenceErrors:      true,
 		}
 		commands = append(commands, cmd)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/commands/artifact/run.go b/pkg/commands/artifact/run.go
index f9e06a30f0a1..fbfe257312ba 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/artifact/run.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/artifact/run.go
@@ -452,10 +452,7 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, opts flag.Options, targetKind TargetKind) (err err
 		return xerrors.Errorf("report error: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	operation.ExitOnEOL(opts, report.Metadata)
-	operation.Exit(opts, report.Results.Failed())
-
-	return nil
+	return operation.Exit(opts, report.Results.Failed(), report.Metadata)
 }
 
 func disabledAnalyzers(opts flag.Options) []analyzer.Type {
diff --git a/pkg/commands/convert/run.go b/pkg/commands/convert/run.go
index 34e799f7a061..428d6b5b0b4b 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/convert/run.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/convert/run.go
@@ -44,8 +44,5 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, opts flag.Options) (err error) {
 		return xerrors.Errorf("unable to write results: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	operation.ExitOnEOL(opts, r.Metadata)
-	operation.Exit(opts, r.Results.Failed())
-
-	return nil
+	return operation.Exit(opts, r.Results.Failed(), r.Metadata)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/commands/operation/operation.go b/pkg/commands/operation/operation.go
index 2b4e2a7f5ffa..e97a9bd8f1ee 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/operation/operation.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/operation/operation.go
@@ -204,16 +204,15 @@ func GetTLSConfig(caCertPath, certPath, keyPath string) (*x509.CertPool, tls.Cer
 	return caCertPool, cert, nil
 }
 
-func Exit(opts flag.Options, failedResults bool) {
-	if opts.ExitCode != 0 && failedResults {
-		os.Exit(opts.ExitCode)
-	}
-}
-
-func ExitOnEOL(opts flag.Options, m types.Metadata) {
+func Exit(opts flag.Options, failedResults bool, m types.Metadata) error {
 	if opts.ExitOnEOL != 0 && m.OS != nil && m.OS.Eosl {
 		log.Error("Detected EOL OS", log.String("family", string(m.OS.Family)),
 			log.String("version", m.OS.Name))
-		os.Exit(opts.ExitOnEOL)
+		return &types.ExitError{Code: opts.ExitOnEOL}
 	}
+
+	if opts.ExitCode != 0 && failedResults {
+		return &types.ExitError{Code: opts.ExitCode}
+	}
+	return nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/k8s/commands/run.go b/pkg/k8s/commands/run.go
index 179853f99121..01ebf1db645f 100644
--- a/pkg/k8s/commands/run.go
+++ b/pkg/k8s/commands/run.go
@@ -122,9 +122,7 @@ func (r *runner) run(ctx context.Context, artifacts []*k8sArtifacts.Artifact) er
 		return xerrors.Errorf("unable to write results: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	operation.Exit(r.flagOpts, rpt.Failed())
-
-	return nil
+	return operation.Exit(r.flagOpts, rpt.Failed(), types.Metadata{})
 }
 
 // Full-cluster scanning with '--format table' without explicit '--report all' is not allowed so that it won't mess up user's terminal.
diff --git a/pkg/plugin/plugin.go b/pkg/plugin/plugin.go
index a72419aceb5a..11e46a4488a0 100644
--- a/pkg/plugin/plugin.go
+++ b/pkg/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package plugin
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/downloader"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/log"
+	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/types"
 	"github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/pkg/utils/fsutils"
 )
 
@@ -111,8 +113,11 @@ func (p Plugin) Run(ctx context.Context, opts RunOptions) error {
 	// out if the error was from not being able to execute the plugin or
 	// an error set by the plugin itself.
 	if err = cmd.Run(); err != nil {
-		if _, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); !ok {
-			return xerrors.Errorf("exit: %w", err)
+		var execError *exec.ExitError
+		if errors.As(err, &execError) {
+			return &types.ExitError{
+				Code: execError.ExitCode(),
+			}
 		}
 		return xerrors.Errorf("plugin exec: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/plugin/plugin_test.go b/pkg/plugin/plugin_test.go
index f9ee7aac2b89..d3f5aa1a0fec 100644
--- a/pkg/plugin/plugin_test.go
+++ b/pkg/plugin/plugin_test.go
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ func TestPlugin_Run(t *testing.T) {
 				GOOS:   "linux",
 				GOARCH: "amd64",
 			},
-			wantErr: "plugin exec: exit status 1",
+			wantErr: "exit status 1",
 		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
diff --git a/pkg/types/error.go b/pkg/types/error.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5a1614e07dd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/types/error.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package types
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+)
+
+type ExitError struct {
+	Code int
+}
+
+func (e *ExitError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("exit status %d", e.Code)
+}