diff --git a/lib/rubygems/uninstaller.rb b/lib/rubygems/uninstaller.rb
index 23791313c8..214ba53a88 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/uninstaller.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/uninstaller.rb
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ class Gem::Uninstaller
   # Removes installed executables and batch files (windows only) for +spec+.
 
   def remove_executables(spec)
-    return if spec.executables.empty?
+    return if spec.executables.empty? || default_spec_matches?(spec)
 
     executables = spec.executables.clone
 
diff --git a/test/rubygems/helper.rb b/test/rubygems/helper.rb
index e47f2fa837..5b6ba999a4 100644
--- a/test/rubygems/helper.rb
+++ b/test/rubygems/helper.rb
@@ -816,9 +816,15 @@ class Gem::TestCase < Test::Unit::TestCase
     Gem::Specification.unresolved_deps.values.map(&:to_s).sort
   end
 
-  def new_default_spec(name, version, deps = nil, *files)
+  def new_default_spec(name, version, deps = nil, *files, executable: false)
     spec = util_spec name, version, deps
 
+    if executable
+      spec.executables = %w[executable]
+
+      write_file File.join(@tempdir, "bin", "executable")
+    end
+
     spec.loaded_from = File.join(@gemhome, "specifications", "default", spec.spec_name)
     spec.files = files
 
diff --git a/test/rubygems/test_gem_commands_uninstall_command.rb b/test/rubygems/test_gem_commands_uninstall_command.rb
index 66885395d8..81fadfcb99 100644
--- a/test/rubygems/test_gem_commands_uninstall_command.rb
+++ b/test/rubygems/test_gem_commands_uninstall_command.rb
@@ -81,6 +81,35 @@ class TestGemCommandsUninstallCommand < Gem::InstallerTestCase
     assert_equal "Successfully uninstalled z-2", output.shift
   end
 
+  def test_execute_does_not_remove_default_gem_executables
+    z_1_default = new_default_spec "z", "1", executable: true
+    install_default_gems z_1_default
+
+    z_1, = util_gem "z", "1" do |spec|
+      util_make_exec spec
+    end
+    install_gem z_1, force: true
+
+    Gem::Specification.reset
+
+    @cmd.options[:all] = true
+    @cmd.options[:force] = true
+    @cmd.options[:executables] = true
+    @cmd.options[:args] = %w[z]
+
+    use_ui @ui do
+      @cmd.execute
+    end
+
+    assert File.exist? File.join(@gemhome, "bin", "executable")
+
+    output = @ui.output.split "\n"
+
+    refute_includes output, "Removing executable"
+    assert_equal "Successfully uninstalled z-1", output.shift
+    assert_equal "There was both a regular copy and a default copy of z-1. The regular copy was successfully uninstalled, but the default copy was left around because default gems can't be removed.", output.shift
+  end
+
   def test_execute_dependency_order
     initial_install