diff --git a/lib/child_process.js b/lib/child_process.js
index 3fb21f755be3d7..1afd5406af9fc7 100644
--- a/lib/child_process.js
+++ b/lib/child_process.js
@@ -743,6 +743,27 @@ function abortChildProcess(child, killSignal, reason) {
  * @returns {ChildProcess}
  */
 function spawn(file, args, options) {
+  if (
+    options == null &&
+    ArrayIsArray(args) &&
+    typeof file === 'string' &&
+    file.length > 0 &&
+    !StringPrototypeIncludes(file, '\u0000') &&
+    !isZOS
+  ) {
+    const child = new ChildProcess();
+    options = {
+      args: [file, ...args],
+      detached: false,
+      file,
+      windowsHide: false,
+      windowsVerbatimArguments: false,
+    };
+    debug('spawn', options);
+    child.spawn(options);
+    return child;
+  }
+
   options = normalizeSpawnArguments(file, args, options);
   validateTimeout(options.timeout);
   validateAbortSignal(options.signal, 'options.signal');