diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cri/.import-restrictions b/pkg/kubelet/cri/.import-restrictions
index 10215ff9251..ae9260b9bd1 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cri/.import-restrictions
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cri/.import-restrictions
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ rules:
   - selectorRegexp: k8s[.]io/kubernetes
     allowedPrefixes:
       - k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cri
+      - k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe/exec
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/BUILD b/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/BUILD
index ea28193df68..d6cd6b7cf5b 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/BUILD
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ go_library(
     importpath = "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote",
     deps = [
         "//pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/util:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/probe/exec:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/component-base/logs/logreduction:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1alpha2:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/remote_runtime.go b/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/remote_runtime.go
index 80ad3aad193..87b41bbf16f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/remote_runtime.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/remote_runtime.go
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import (
 	internalapi "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis"
 	runtimeapi "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1alpha2"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cri/remote/util"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe/exec"
 	utilexec "k8s.io/utils/exec"
 )
 
@@ -390,14 +391,9 @@ func (r *remoteRuntimeService) ExecSync(containerID string, cmd []string, timeou
 	if err != nil {
 		klog.Errorf("ExecSync %s '%s' from runtime service failed: %v", containerID, strings.Join(cmd, " "), err)
 
-		// If exec timed out, return utilexec.CodeExitError with an exit status as expected
-		// from prober for failed probes.
-		// TODO: utilexec should have a TimedoutError type and we should return it here once available.
+		// interpret DeadlineExceeded gRPC errors as timedout probes
 		if status.Code(err) == codes.DeadlineExceeded {
-			err = utilexec.CodeExitError{
-				Err:  fmt.Errorf("command %q timed out", strings.Join(cmd, " ")),
-				Code: 1, // exit code here doesn't really matter, as long as it's not 0
-			}
+			err = exec.NewTimeoutError(fmt.Errorf("command %q timed out", strings.Join(cmd, " ")), timeout)
 		}
 
 		return nil, nil, err
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/BUILD b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/BUILD
index 06e3c04e599..4bd4958e11e 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/BUILD
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ go_library(
     visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     deps = [
         "//pkg/credentialprovider:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/features:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/apis/config:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/checkpointmanager:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/checkpointmanager/checksum:go_default_library",
@@ -55,11 +56,13 @@ go_library(
         "//pkg/kubelet/types:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/util/cache:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/util/ioutils:go_default_library",
+        "//pkg/probe/exec:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/util/parsers:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/api/core/v1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/remotecommand:go_default_library",
         "//staging/src/k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis/runtime/v1alpha2:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/armon/circbuf:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/exec.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/exec.go
index 8e53597c8db..d79cff31d97 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/exec.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/exec.go
@@ -27,11 +27,13 @@ import (
 	dockertypes "github.com/docker/docker/api/types"
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
 
+	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/remotecommand"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
 	kubecontainer "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/container"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe/exec"
 
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/libdocker"
-	utilexec "k8s.io/utils/exec"
 )
 
 // ExecHandler knows how to execute a command in a running Docker container.
@@ -112,8 +114,9 @@ func (*NativeExecHandler) ExecInContainer(client libdocker.Interface, container
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// if ExecProbeTimeout feature gate is disabled, preserve existing behavior to ignore exec timeouts
 	var execTimeout <-chan time.Time
-	if timeout > 0 {
+	if timeout > 0 && utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ExecProbeTimeout) {
 		execTimeout = time.After(timeout)
 	} else {
 		// skip exec timeout if provided timeout is 0
@@ -126,13 +129,7 @@ func (*NativeExecHandler) ExecInContainer(client libdocker.Interface, container
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-execTimeout:
-			// If exec timed out, return utilexec.CodeExitError with an exit status as expected
-			// from prober for failed probes.
-			// TODO: utilexec should have a TimedoutError type and we should return it here once available.
-			return utilexec.CodeExitError{
-				Err:  fmt.Errorf("command %q timed out", strings.Join(cmd, " ")),
-				Code: 1, // exit code here doesn't really matter, as long as it's not 0
-			}
+			return exec.NewTimeoutError(fmt.Errorf("command %q timed out", strings.Join(cmd, " ")), timeout)
 		// need to use "default" here instead of <-ticker.C, otherwise we delay the initial InspectExec by 2 seconds.
 		default:
 			inspect, inspectErr := client.InspectExec(execObj.ID)
diff --git a/pkg/probe/exec/BUILD b/pkg/probe/exec/BUILD
index ce381191610..80186df8ca9 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/exec/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/probe/exec/BUILD
@@ -8,11 +8,16 @@ load(
 
 go_library(
     name = "go_default_library",
-    srcs = ["exec.go"],
+    srcs = [
+        "errors.go",
+        "exec.go",
+    ],
     importpath = "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe/exec",
     deps = [
+        "//pkg/features:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/kubelet/util/ioutils:go_default_library",
         "//pkg/probe:go_default_library",
+        "//staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/klog/v2:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/utils/exec:go_default_library",
     ],
diff --git a/pkg/probe/exec/errors.go b/pkg/probe/exec/errors.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6659a94ac7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/probe/exec/errors.go
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2020 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package exec
+
+import (
+	"time"
+)
+
+// NewTimeoutError returns a new TimeoutError.
+func NewTimeoutError(err error, timeout time.Duration) *TimeoutError {
+	return &TimeoutError{
+		err:     err,
+		timeout: timeout,
+	}
+}
+
+// TimeoutError is an error returned on exec probe timeouts. It should be returned by CRI implementations
+// in order for the exec prober to interpret exec timeouts as failed probes.
+// TODO: this error type can likely be removed when we support CRI errors.
+type TimeoutError struct {
+	err     error
+	timeout time.Duration
+}
+
+// Error returns the error string.
+func (t *TimeoutError) Error() string {
+	return t.err.Error()
+}
+
+// Timeout returns the timeout duration of the exec probe.
+func (t *TimeoutError) Timeout() time.Duration {
+	return t.timeout
+}
diff --git a/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go b/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
index 9aa894672ad..164d21bd112 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
+++ b/pkg/probe/exec/exec.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package exec
 import (
 	"bytes"
 
+	utilfeature "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/util/feature"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/util/ioutils"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/probe"
 
@@ -66,6 +68,16 @@ func (pr execProber) Probe(e exec.Cmd) (probe.Result, string, error) {
 			}
 			return probe.Failure, string(data), nil
 		}
+
+		timeoutErr, ok := err.(*TimeoutError)
+		if ok {
+			if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.ExecProbeTimeout) {
+				return probe.Failure, string(data), nil
+			}
+
+			klog.Warningf("Exec probe timed out after %s but ExecProbeTimeout feature gate was disabled", timeoutErr.Timeout())
+		}
+
 		return probe.Unknown, "", err
 	}
 	return probe.Success, string(data), nil