diff --git a/gdb/common/common-utils.c b/gdb/common/common-utils.c
index ae2dd9db2b..aa403d8088 100644
--- a/gdb/common/common-utils.c
+++ b/gdb/common/common-utils.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "common-defs.h"
 #include "common-utils.h"
 #include "host-defs.h"
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
 
 /* The xmalloc() (libiberty.h) family of memory management routines.
@@ -408,3 +409,34 @@ stringify_argv (const std::vector<char *> &args)
 
   return ret;
 }
+
+/* See common/common-utils.h.  */
+
+bool
+is_regular_file (const char *name, int *errno_ptr)
+{
+  struct stat st;
+  const int status = stat (name, &st);
+
+  /* Stat should never fail except when the file does not exist.
+     If stat fails, analyze the source of error and return True
+     unless the file does not exist, to avoid returning false results
+     on obscure systems where stat does not work as expected.  */
+
+  if (status != 0)
+    {
+      if (errno != ENOENT)
+	return true;
+      *errno_ptr = ENOENT;
+      return false;
+    }
+
+  if (S_ISREG (st.st_mode))
+    return true;
+
+  if (S_ISDIR (st.st_mode))
+    *errno_ptr = EISDIR;
+  else
+    *errno_ptr = EINVAL;
+  return false;
+}
diff --git a/gdb/common/common-utils.h b/gdb/common/common-utils.h
index 2320318de7..888396637e 100644
--- a/gdb/common/common-utils.h
+++ b/gdb/common/common-utils.h
@@ -146,4 +146,9 @@ in_inclusive_range (T value, T low, T high)
   return value >= low && value <= high;
 }
 
+/* Return True if the file NAME exists and is a regular file.
+   If the result is false then *ERRNO_PTR is set to a useful value assuming
+   we're expecting a regular file.  */
+extern bool is_regular_file (const char *name, int *errno_ptr);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/gdb/gdbserver/server.c b/gdb/gdbserver/server.c
index f931273fa3..24b3e4d4ad 100644
--- a/gdb/gdbserver/server.c
+++ b/gdb/gdbserver/server.c
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
 #include "common-inferior.h"
 #include "job-control.h"
 #include "environ.h"
+#include "filenames.h"
+#include "pathstuff.h"
 
 #include "common/selftest.h"
 
@@ -283,6 +285,31 @@ get_environ ()
   return &our_environ;
 }
 
+/* Verify if PROGRAM_NAME is an absolute path, and perform path
+   adjustment/expansion if not.  */
+
+static void
+adjust_program_name_path ()
+{
+  /* Make sure we're using the absolute path of the inferior when
+     creating it.  */
+  if (!IS_ABSOLUTE_PATH (program_name))
+    {
+      int reg_file_errno;
+
+      /* Check if the file is in our CWD.  If it is, then we prefix
+	 its name with CURRENT_DIRECTORY.  Otherwise, we leave the
+	 name as-is because we'll try searching for it in $PATH.  */
+      if (is_regular_file (program_name, &reg_file_errno))
+	{
+	  char *tmp_program_name = program_name;
+
+	  program_name = gdb_abspath (program_name).release ();
+	  xfree (tmp_program_name);
+	}
+    }
+}
+
 static int
 attach_inferior (int pid)
 {
@@ -3016,6 +3043,8 @@ handle_v_run (char *own_buf)
       program_name = new_program_name;
     }
 
+  adjust_program_name_path ();
+
   /* Free the old argv and install the new one.  */
   free_vector_argv (program_args);
   program_args = new_argv;
@@ -3770,6 +3799,8 @@ captured_main (int argc, char *argv[])
 	program_args.push_back (xstrdup (next_arg[i]));
       program_args.push_back (NULL);
 
+      adjust_program_name_path ();
+
       /* Wait till we are at first instruction in program.  */
       create_inferior (program_name, program_args);
 
@@ -4290,6 +4321,8 @@ process_serial_event (void)
 	  /* Wait till we are at 1st instruction in prog.  */
 	  if (program_name != NULL)
 	    {
+	      adjust_program_name_path ();
+
 	      create_inferior (program_name, program_args);
 
 	      if (last_status.kind == TARGET_WAITKIND_STOPPED)
diff --git a/gdb/source.c b/gdb/source.c
index 77f5e8d4d4..bfa9fd6e4c 100644
--- a/gdb/source.c
+++ b/gdb/source.c
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 #include "filestuff.h"
 
 #include <sys/types.h>
-#include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include "gdbcore.h"
 #include "gdb_regex.h"
@@ -670,39 +669,6 @@ info_source_command (const char *ignore, int from_tty)
 }
 
 
-/* Return True if the file NAME exists and is a regular file.
-   If the result is false then *ERRNO_PTR is set to a useful value assuming
-   we're expecting a regular file.  */
-
-static int
-is_regular_file (const char *name, int *errno_ptr)
-{
-  struct stat st;
-  const int status = stat (name, &st);
-
-  /* Stat should never fail except when the file does not exist.
-     If stat fails, analyze the source of error and return True
-     unless the file does not exist, to avoid returning false results
-     on obscure systems where stat does not work as expected.  */
-
-  if (status != 0)
-    {
-      if (errno != ENOENT)
-	return 1;
-      *errno_ptr = ENOENT;
-      return 0;
-    }
-
-  if (S_ISREG (st.st_mode))
-    return 1;
-
-  if (S_ISDIR (st.st_mode))
-    *errno_ptr = EISDIR;
-  else
-    *errno_ptr = EINVAL;
-  return 0;
-}
-
 /* Open a file named STRING, searching path PATH (dir names sep by some char)
    using mode MODE in the calls to open.  You cannot use this function to
    create files (O_CREAT).
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.server/abspath.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.server/abspath.exp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fbde5ee537
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.server/abspath.exp
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# This testcase is part of GDB, the GNU debugger.
+
+# Copyright 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# Test that gdbserver performs path expansion/adjustment when we
+# provide just a filename (without any path specifications) to it.
+
+load_lib gdbserver-support.exp
+
+standard_testfile normal.c
+
+if { [skip_gdbserver_tests] } {
+    return 0
+}
+
+# We only test things locally, and on native-gdbserver
+if { [is_remote target] || [is_remote host] || ![use_gdb_stub] } {
+    return 0
+}
+
+if { [prepare_for_testing "failed to prepare" $testfile $srcfile debug] } {
+    return -1
+}
+
+set target_exec [gdbserver_download_current_prog]
+set target_execname [file tail $target_exec]
+# We temporarily copy the file to our current directory
+file copy -force $target_exec [pwd]
+set res [gdbserver_start "" $target_execname]
+
+set gdbserver_protocol [lindex $res 0]
+set gdbserver_gdbport [lindex $res 1]
+gdb_target_cmd $gdbserver_protocol $gdbserver_gdbport
+
+if { [runto_main] } {
+    pass "load filename without absolute path"
+} else {
+    fail "load filename without absolute path"
+}
+
+file delete -force "[pwd]/$target_execname"
