diff --git a/kas/kas.py b/kas/kas.py
index ac6e20f..f55487a 100644
--- a/kas/kas.py
+++ b/kas/kas.py
@@ -98,7 +98,14 @@ def _atexit_handler():
         loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
         pending = asyncio.Task.all_tasks(loop)
     if not loop.is_closed():
-        loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.gather(*pending))
+        # this code path is observed on older python versions (e.g. 3.6).
+        # In case the loop is not yet closed, tasks still might throw
+        # exceptions, but we are not interested in these as they are
+        # likely due to the cancellation. By that, we simply drop them.
+        try:
+            loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.gather(*pending))
+        except KasUserError:
+            pass
         loop.close()
 
 
diff --git a/kas/libkas.py b/kas/libkas.py
index ead6b72..f9a0734 100644
--- a/kas/libkas.py
+++ b/kas/libkas.py
@@ -197,11 +197,10 @@ def repos_fetch(repos):
         tasks.append(asyncio.ensure_future(repo.fetch_async()))
 
     loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
-    loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.wait(tasks))
-
-    for task in tasks:
-        if task.result():
-            raise TaskExecError('fetch repos', task.result())
+    try:
+        loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.gather(*tasks))
+    except CommandExecError as e:
+        raise TaskExecError('fetch repos', e.ret_code)
 
 
 def repos_apply_patches(repos):
@@ -216,11 +215,10 @@ def repos_apply_patches(repos):
         tasks.append(asyncio.ensure_future(repo.apply_patches_async()))
 
     loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
-    loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.wait(tasks))
-
-    for task in tasks:
-        if task.result():
-            raise TaskExecError('apply patches', task.result())
+    try:
+        loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.gather(*tasks))
+    except CommandExecError as e:
+        raise TaskExecError('apply patches', e.ret_code)
 
 
 def get_build_environ(build_system):
diff --git a/tests/test_commands.py b/tests/test_commands.py
index 1d51053..bcd5d1b 100644
--- a/tests/test_commands.py
+++ b/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import json
 import yaml
 import pytest
 from kas import kas
-from kas.kasusererror import CommandExecError
+from kas.libkas import TaskExecError
 
 
 def test_for_all_repos(changedir, tmpdir):
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def test_invalid_checkout(changedir, tmpdir, capsys):
     tdir = str(tmpdir / 'test_commands')
     shutil.copytree('tests/test_commands', tdir)
     os.chdir(tdir)
-    with pytest.raises(CommandExecError):
+    with pytest.raises(TaskExecError):
         kas.kas(['checkout', 'test-invalid.yml'])