diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/prober/prober.go b/pkg/kubelet/prober/prober.go
index f766c132d28..e94483a09f0 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/prober/prober.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/prober/prober.go
@@ -271,11 +271,11 @@ func (eic *execInContainer) Output() ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) SetDir(dir string) {
-	//unimplemented
+	// unimplemented
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) SetStdin(in io.Reader) {
-	//unimplemented
+	// unimplemented
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) SetStdout(out io.Writer) {
@@ -287,11 +287,11 @@ func (eic *execInContainer) SetStderr(out io.Writer) {
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) SetEnv(env []string) {
-	//unimplemented
+	// unimplemented
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) Stop() {
-	//unimplemented
+	// unimplemented
 }
 
 func (eic *execInContainer) Start() error {
diff --git a/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go b/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
index 164d21bd112..e9673257930 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
+++ b/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@ func (pr execProber) Probe(e exec.Cmd) (probe.Result, string, error) {
 		timeoutErr, ok := err.(*TimeoutError)
 		if ok {
 			if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ExecProbeTimeout) {
-				return probe.Failure, string(data), nil
+				// When exec probe timeout, data is empty, so we should return timeoutErr.Error() as the stdout.
+				return probe.Failure, timeoutErr.Error(), nil
 			}
 
 			klog.Warningf("Exec probe timed out after %s but ExecProbeTimeout feature gate was disabled", timeoutErr.Timeout())
diff --git a/pkg/probe/exec/exec_test.go b/pkg/probe/exec/exec_test.go
index 300b3d8746c..6083da3af98 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/exec/exec_test.go
+++ b/pkg/probe/exec/exec_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe"
 )
@@ -122,6 +123,8 @@ func TestExec(t *testing.T) {
 		{probe.Unknown, true, "", "", fmt.Errorf("test error")},
 		// Unhealthy
 		{probe.Failure, false, "Fail", "", &fakeExitError{true, 1}},
+		// Timeout
+		{probe.Failure, false, "", "command testcmd timed out", NewTimeoutError(fmt.Errorf("command testcmd timed out"), time.Second)},
 	}
 	for i, test := range tests {
 		fake := FakeCmd{