diff --git a/Meta/build-image-qemu.sh b/Meta/build-image-qemu.sh
index 958c0eadf5..10114ba397 100755
--- a/Meta/build-image-qemu.sh
+++ b/Meta/build-image-qemu.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ die() {
 }
 
 if [ "$(id -u)" != 0 ]; then
-    exec sudo -E -- "$0" "$@" || die "this script needs to run as root"
+    sudo -E -- "$0" "$@" || die "this script needs to run as root"
+    exit 0
 else
     : "${SUDO_UID:=0}" "${SUDO_GID:=0}"
 fi