diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 4f61c0591..4619cf1bc 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Andrey Paramonov
 Andrzej Klajnert
 Andrzej Ostrowski
 Andy Freeland
+Anita Hammer
 Anthon van der Neut
 Anthony Shaw
 Anthony Sottile
diff --git a/changelog/12191.bugfix.rst b/changelog/12191.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5102d4698
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/12191.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Keyboard interrupts and system exits are now properly handled during the test collection.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/runner.py b/src/_pytest/runner.py
index dfefa73b7..e5af60e38 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/runner.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/runner.py
@@ -393,7 +393,9 @@ def pytest_make_collect_report(collector: Collector) -> CollectReport:
 
         return list(collector.collect())
 
-    call = CallInfo.from_call(collect, "collect")
+    call = CallInfo.from_call(
+        collect, "collect", reraise=(KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit)
+    )
     longrepr: Union[None, Tuple[str, int, str], str, TerminalRepr] = None
     if not call.excinfo:
         outcome: Literal["passed", "skipped", "failed"] = "passed"
diff --git a/testing/test_collection.py b/testing/test_collection.py
index 9caca622c..995e2999b 100644
--- a/testing/test_collection.py
+++ b/testing/test_collection.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import sys
 import tempfile
 import textwrap
 from typing import List
+from typing import Type
 
 from _pytest.assertion.util import running_on_ci
 from _pytest.config import ExitCode
@@ -1856,3 +1857,33 @@ def test_do_not_collect_symlink_siblings(
     # Ensure we collect it only once if we pass the symlinked directory.
     result = pytester.runpytest(symlink_path, "-sv")
     result.assert_outcomes(passed=1)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "exception_class, msg",
+    [
+        (KeyboardInterrupt, "*!!! KeyboardInterrupt !!!*"),
+        (SystemExit, "INTERNALERROR> SystemExit"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_respect_system_exceptions(
+    pytester: Pytester,
+    exception_class: Type[BaseException],
+    msg: str,
+):
+    head = "Before exception"
+    tail = "After exception"
+    ensure_file(pytester.path / "test_eggs.py").write_text(
+        f"print('{head}')", encoding="UTF-8"
+    )
+    ensure_file(pytester.path / "test_ham.py").write_text(
+        f"raise {exception_class.__name__}()", encoding="UTF-8"
+    )
+    ensure_file(pytester.path / "test_spam.py").write_text(
+        f"print('{tail}')", encoding="UTF-8"
+    )
+
+    result = pytester.runpytest_subprocess("-s")
+    result.stdout.fnmatch_lines([f"*{head}*"])
+    result.stdout.fnmatch_lines([msg])
+    result.stdout.no_fnmatch_line(f"*{tail}*")