diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index 375a0091209161..4b4ab4b162e46d 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -1319,7 +1319,9 @@ function getStackString(ctx, error) {
     if (typeof error.stack === 'string') {
       return error.stack;
     }
-    return formatValue(ctx, error.stack);
+    if (error.stack !== error) {
+      return formatValue(ctx, error.stack);
+    }
   }
   return ErrorPrototypeToString(error);
 }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
index 2dc263443481a0..d28f97eda2eb89 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
@@ -3460,3 +3460,22 @@ ${error.stack.split('\n').slice(1).join('\n')}`,
     '[[\n  Symbol(foo)\n]]'
   );
 }
+
+{
+  const prepareStackTrace = Error.prepareStackTrace;
+
+  Error.prepareStackTrace = (error) => error;
+
+  const error = new Error('foo');
+
+  assert.strictEqual(inspect(error), '[Error: foo]');
+
+  Error.prepareStackTrace = prepareStackTrace;
+}
+
+{
+  const error = new Error('foo');
+  error.stack = error;
+
+  assert.strictEqual(inspect(error), '[Error: foo]');
+}