diff --git a/maven-core/src/bin/m2 b/maven-core/src/bin/m2
index a9f2b25625..73a41b22fd 100755
--- a/maven-core/src/bin/m2
+++ b/maven-core/src/bin/m2
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ if $cygwin; then
     HOME=`cygpath --path --windows "$HOME"`
 fi
 
-$JAVACMD \
+exec $JAVACMD \
   $MAVEN_OPTS \
   -classpath "${M2_HOME}"/core/boot/classworlds-*.jar \
   "-Dclassworlds.conf=${M2_HOME}/bin/m2.conf" \