diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
index 5b53342933cdcb..db7e2ee50dd8d6 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/utils.js
@@ -384,6 +384,9 @@ function countCompletedTest(test, harness = test.root.harness) {
   }
   if (test.reportedType === 'suite') {
     harness.counters.suites++;
+    if (!test.passed) {
+      harness.success = false;
+    }
     return;
   }
   // Check SKIP and TODO tests first, as those should not be counted as
diff --git a/test/fixtures/test-runner/describe_error.js b/test/fixtures/test-runner/describe_error.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..04e9d1faa042d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/test-runner/describe_error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+'use strict';
+const { describe, it } = require('node:test');
+
+describe('should fail', () => {
+  throw new Error('error in describe');
+});
+
+describe('should pass', () => {
+  it('ok', () => {});
+});
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-runner-exit-code.js b/test/parallel/test-runner-exit-code.js
index 4024a52841bb28..c25becee3f708f 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-runner-exit-code.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-runner-exit-code.js
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ if (process.argv[2] === 'child') {
   assert.strictEqual(child.status, 1);
   assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
 
+  // An error thrown inside describe() should cause a non-zero exit code.
+  child = spawnSync(process.execPath, [
+    '--test',
+    fixtures.path('test-runner', 'describe_error.js'),
+  ]);
+  assert.strictEqual(child.status, 1);
+  assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
+
   // With process isolation (default), the test name shown is the file path
   // because the parent runner only knows about file-level tests
   const neverEndingSync = fixtures.path('test-runner', 'never_ending_sync.js');