diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index 38e1dbb4a2cc5..234e338640717 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -1530,7 +1530,7 @@ bool AppInitMain(NodeContext& node, interfaces::BlockAndHeaderTipInfo* tip_info)
             }
         }
 
-        if (status == node::ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_INCOMPATIBLE_DB || status == node::ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_INSUFFICIENT_DBCACHE) {
+        if (status == node::ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_FATAL || status == node::ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_INCOMPATIBLE_DB || status == node::ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_INSUFFICIENT_DBCACHE) {
             return InitError(error);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/node/chainstate.cpp b/src/node/chainstate.cpp
index 8f997b059477d..3900d2e620042 100644
--- a/src/node/chainstate.cpp
+++ b/src/node/chainstate.cpp
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ ChainstateLoadResult LoadChainstate(ChainstateManager& chainman, const CacheSize
     } else if (snapshot_completion == SnapshotCompletionResult::SUCCESS) {
         LogPrintf("[snapshot] cleaning up unneeded background chainstate, then reinitializing\n");
         if (!chainman.ValidatedSnapshotCleanup()) {
-            AbortNode("Background chainstate cleanup failed unexpectedly.");
+            return {ChainstateLoadStatus::FAILURE_FATAL, Untranslated("Background chainstate cleanup failed unexpectedly.")};
         }
 
         // Because ValidatedSnapshotCleanup() has torn down chainstates with
diff --git a/src/node/chainstate.h b/src/node/chainstate.h
index 77240cafe93f3..2e35035c283ec 100644
--- a/src/node/chainstate.h
+++ b/src/node/chainstate.h
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ struct ChainstateLoadOptions {
 //! and exit cleanly in the interrupted case.
 enum class ChainstateLoadStatus {
     SUCCESS,
-    FAILURE,
+    FAILURE, //!< Generic failure which reindexing may fix
+    FAILURE_FATAL, //!< Fatal error which should not prompt to reindex
     FAILURE_INCOMPATIBLE_DB,
     FAILURE_INSUFFICIENT_DBCACHE,
     INTERRUPTED,