diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/development_tools.rb b/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/development_tools.rb
index 7707a9eed4..b0f5212da9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/development_tools.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/extend/os/linux/development_tools.rb
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ class DevelopmentTools
 
     sig { returns(T::Boolean) }
     def system_gcc_too_old?
-      gcc_version("/usr/bin/gcc") < OS::LINUX_GCC_CI_VERSION
+      gcc = "/usr/bin/gcc"
+      return true unless File.exist?(gcc)
+
+      gcc_version(gcc) < OS::LINUX_GCC_CI_VERSION
     end
 
     sig { returns(T::Hash[String, T.nilable(String)]) }