diff --git a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
index c611eb97fc0755..be3cc2de68829c 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util/inspect.js
@@ -2206,7 +2206,7 @@ function formatNumber(fn, number, numericSeparator) {
     }
     return fn(addNumericSeparator(numberString), 'number');
   }
-  if (NumberIsNaN(number)) {
+  if (NumberIsNaN(number) || StringPrototypeIncludes(numberString, 'e')) {
     return fn(numberString, 'number');
   }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
index e60320d0591233..17034868b95c13 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js
@@ -3844,6 +3844,12 @@ assert.strictEqual(
       '-0.123_45'
     );
   }
+
+  // Numbers in scientific notation should not get malformed separators
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(1e-7, { numericSeparator: true }), '1e-7');
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(1.5e-10, { numericSeparator: true }), '1.5e-10');
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(1.23e-100, { numericSeparator: true }), '1.23e-100');
+  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(1.23456789e-12, { numericSeparator: true }), '1.23456789e-12');
 }
 
 // Regression test for https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/41244