diff --git a/gdb/linux-nat.c b/gdb/linux-nat.c
index 8f5f978074f..59f416f6118 100644
--- a/gdb/linux-nat.c
+++ b/gdb/linux-nat.c
@@ -2129,7 +2129,7 @@ linux_handle_extended_wait (struct lwp_info *lp, int status)
       open_proc_mem_file (lp->ptid);
 
       ourstatus->set_execd
-	(make_unique_xstrdup (linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (pid)));
+	(make_unique_xstrdup (linux_target->pid_to_exec_file (pid)));
 
       /* The thread that execed must have been resumed, but, when a
 	 thread execs, it changes its tid to the tgid, and the old
@@ -4000,7 +4000,14 @@ linux_nat_target::thread_name (struct thread_info *thr)
 const char *
 linux_nat_target::pid_to_exec_file (int pid)
 {
-  return linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (pid);
+  /* If there's no sysroot.  Or the sysroot is just 'target:' and the
+     inferior is in the same mount namespce, then we can consider the
+     filesystem local.  */
+  bool local_fs = (gdb_sysroot.empty ()
+		   || (gdb_sysroot == TARGET_SYSROOT_PREFIX
+		       && linux_ns_same (pid, LINUX_NS_MNT)));
+
+  return linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (pid, local_fs);
 }
 
 /* Object representing an /proc/PID/mem open file.  We keep one such
diff --git a/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.c b/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.c
index a72df2a09d7..d4f9af32bb9 100644
--- a/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.c
+++ b/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.c
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ linux_proc_task_list_dir_exists (pid_t pid)
 /* See linux-procfs.h.  */
 
 const char *
-linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (int pid)
+linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (int pid, bool is_local_fs)
 {
   static char buf[PATH_MAX];
   char name[PATH_MAX];
@@ -437,9 +437,31 @@ linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (int pid)
   else
     buf[len] = '\0';
 
-  /* Use /proc/PID/exe if the actual file can't be read, but /proc/PID/exe
-     can be.  */
-  if (access (buf, R_OK) != 0 && access (name, R_OK) == 0)
+  /* If the inferior and GDB can see the same filesystem, and NAME
+     cannot be read, maybe the file has been deleted, then we can
+     potentially use /proc/PID/exe instead.
+
+     GDB always interprets the results of this function within the
+     current sysroot (which is 'target:' by default).  This means
+     that, if we return /proc/PID/exe, GDB will try to find this file
+     within the sysroot.
+
+     This doesn't make sense if GDB is using a sysroot like:
+     '/some/random/directory/', not only is it possible that NAME
+     could be found within the sysroot, it is unlikely that
+     /proc/PID/exe will exist within the sysroot.
+
+     Similarly, if the sysroot is 'target:', but the inferior is
+     running within a separate MNT namespace, then it is more than
+     likely that the inferior will also be running in a separate PID
+     namespace, in this case PID is the pid on the host system,
+     /proc/PID/exe will not be correct within the inferiors MNT/PID
+     namespace.
+
+     So, we can fallback to use /proc/PID/exe only if IS_LOCAL_FS is
+     true, this indicates that GDB and the inferior are using the same
+     MNT namespace, and GDB's sysroot is either empty, or 'target:'.  */
+  if (is_local_fs && access (buf, R_OK) != 0 && access (name, R_OK) == 0)
     strcpy (buf, name);
 
   return buf;
diff --git a/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.h b/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.h
index 0c806221faa..4b02d31abdf 100644
--- a/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.h
+++ b/gdb/nat/linux-procfs.h
@@ -87,9 +87,19 @@ extern int linux_proc_task_list_dir_exists (pid_t pid);
 
 /* Return the full absolute name of the executable file that was run
    to create the process PID.  The returned value persists until this
-   function is next called.  */
+   function is next called.
 
-extern const char *linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (int pid);
+   LOCAL_FS should be true if the file returned from the function will
+   be searched for in the same filesystem as GDB itself is running.
+   In practice, this means LOCAL_FS should be true if PID and GDB are
+   running in the same MNT namespace and GDB's sysroot is either the
+   empty string, or is 'target:'.
+
+   When used from gdbserver, where there is no sysroot, the only check
+   that matters is that PID and gdbserver are running in the same MNT
+   namespace.  */
+
+extern const char *linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (int pid, bool local_fs);
 
 /* Display possible problems on this system.  Display them only once
    per GDB execution.  */
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/attach-deleted-exec.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/attach-deleted-exec.exp
index 82a7bb409fe..45fac0db473 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/attach-deleted-exec.exp
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/attach-deleted-exec.exp
@@ -67,5 +67,49 @@ if { [regexp $re_nfs $filename] } {
     gdb_assert { [string equal $filename /proc/${testpid}/exe] } $test
 }
 
+# Restart GDB.
+clean_restart
+
+# Setup an empty sysroot.  GDB will fail to find the executable within
+# the sysroot.  Additionally, the presence of a sysroot should prevent
+# GDB from trying to load the executable from /proc/PID/exe.
+set sysroot [standard_output_file "sysroot"]
+gdb_test_no_output "set sysroot $sysroot" \
+    "setup sysroot"
+
+# Attach to the inferior.  GDB should complain about failing to find
+# the executable.  It is the name of the executable that GDB doesn't
+# find that we're interesting in here.  For native targets GDB should
+# be looking for BINFILE, not /proc/PID/exe.
+#
+# For extended-remote targets things are unfortunately harder.  Native
+# GDB looks for BINFILE because it understands that GDB will be
+# looking in the sysroot.  But remote GDB doesn't know if GDB is using
+# a sysroot or not.  As such, gdbserver will return /proc/PID/exe if
+# it knows that the file has been deleted locally.  This isn't great
+# if GDB then plans to look in a sysroot, but equally, if the remote
+# file has been deleted, then the name GDB will return, will have had
+# " (deleted" appended, so we're unlikely to get a hit in the sysroot
+# either way.
+if { [target_info gdb_protocol] == "extended-remote" } {
+    set filename_re "/proc/$testpid/exe"
+} else {
+    set filename_re "\[^\r\n\]+/${testfile} \\(deleted\\)"
+}
+
+verbose -log "APB: warning: No executable has been specified, and target executable $filename_re could not be found\\.  Try using the \"file\" command\\."
+
+gdb_test "attach $testpid" \
+    [multi_line \
+	 "Attaching to process $decimal" \
+	 "warning: No executable has been specified, and target executable $filename_re could not be found\\.  Try using the \"file\" command\\." \
+	 ".*"] \
+    "attach to inferior"
+
+# Check GDB hasn't managed to load an executable.
+gdb_test "info inferior" \
+    "\\*\[^)\]+\\)\\s*" \
+    "confirm no executable is loaded."
+
 # Cleanup.
 kill_wait_spawned_process $test_spawn_id
diff --git a/gdbserver/linux-low.cc b/gdbserver/linux-low.cc
index e507558c64e..39642705b0d 100644
--- a/gdbserver/linux-low.cc
+++ b/gdbserver/linux-low.cc
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ linux_process_target::handle_extended_wait (lwp_info **orig_event_lwp,
       /* Set the event status.  */
       event_lwp->waitstatus.set_execd
 	(make_unique_xstrdup
-	   (linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (event_thr->id.lwp ())));
+	   (pid_to_exec_file (event_thr->id.lwp ())));
 
       /* Mark the exec status as pending.  */
       event_lwp->stopped = 1;
@@ -6033,7 +6033,7 @@ linux_process_target::supports_pid_to_exec_file ()
 const char *
 linux_process_target::pid_to_exec_file (int pid)
 {
-  return linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (pid);
+  return linux_proc_pid_to_exec_file (pid, linux_ns_same (pid, LINUX_NS_MNT));
 }
 
 bool