diff --git a/lib/msf/util/exe.rb b/lib/msf/util/exe.rb
index 5df5ba5098..3c738261d1 100644
--- a/lib/msf/util/exe.rb
+++ b/lib/msf/util/exe.rb
@@ -992,6 +992,11 @@ require 'msf/core/exe/segment_appender'
     if default
       elf = to_exe_elf(framework, opts, "template_x86_linux.bin", code)
     else
+      # Use set_template_default to normalize the :template key. It will just end up doing
+      # opts[:template] = File.join(opts[:template_path], opts[:template])
+      # for us, check if the file exists.
+      set_template_default(opts)
+
       # If this isn't our normal template, we have to do some fancy
       # header patching to mark the .text section rwx before putting our
       # payload into the entry point.