diff --git a/man/systemd.xml b/man/systemd.xml
index 391333bfb4..8d74ca49c3 100644
--- a/man/systemd.xml
+++ b/man/systemd.xml
@@ -922,9 +922,8 @@
         the machine automatically when it crashes, after a 10s delay.
         Otherwise, the system will hang indefinitely. Defaults to
         <option>no</option>, in order to avoid a reboot loop. If
-        combined with <varname>systemd.crash_shell=</varname>, it is
-        first attempted to invoke a shell, and if this is not
-        successful the system is rebooted.</para></listitem>
+        combined with <varname>systemd.crash_shell=</varname>, the
+        system is rebooted after the shell exits.</para></listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
       <varlistentry>
diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index 2fa96901c7..13fa78fed8 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -231,11 +231,10 @@ noreturn static void crash(int sig) {
                         (void) execle("/bin/sh", "/bin/sh", NULL, environ);
 
                         log_emergency_errno(errno, "execle() failed: %m");
-                        freeze_or_reboot();
                         _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                 } else {
                         log_info("Spawned crash shell as PID "PID_FMT".", pid);
-                        freeze();
+                        (void) wait_for_terminate(pid, NULL);
                 }
         }