diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1342e2f27b..3916f191b2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ END_UNRELEASED_TEMPLATE
 * (pypi) Fix `importlib.metadata.files` by ensuring `RECORD` is included in
   installed wheel targets, except when built from sdist
   ([#3024](https://github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_python/issues/3024)).
+* (system_python) Fix AttributeError exception on Debian 10 Buster
+  python installations which may not set `sys._base_executable`
+  ([#3774](https://github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_python/issues/3774)).
 * (windows) Fix `py_test`/`py_binary` failure when the target name contains
   path separators; the bootstrap stub is now declared as a sibling of the
   `.exe` launcher
@@ -92,7 +95,6 @@ END_UNRELEASED_TEMPLATE
   towards the underlying `*.update` target.
   ([#3787](https://github.com/bazel-contrib/rules_python/pull/3787))
 
-
 {#v0-0-0-added}
 ### Added
 * (toolchain) Added {obj}`python.override.toolchain_target_settings` to allow
diff --git a/python/private/python_bootstrap_template.txt b/python/private/python_bootstrap_template.txt
index 0d28aff311..38c93ec5b5 100644
--- a/python/private/python_bootstrap_template.txt
+++ b/python/private/python_bootstrap_template.txt
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ def main():
   print_verbose("VENV_REL_SITE_PACKAGES:", VENV_REL_SITE_PACKAGES)
   print_verbose("WORKSPACE_NAME:", WORKSPACE_NAME )
   print_verbose("bootstrap sys.executable:", sys.executable)
-  print_verbose("bootstrap sys._base_executable:", sys._base_executable)
+  print_verbose("bootstrap sys._base_executable:", getattr(sys, "_base_executable", "unknown"))
   print_verbose("bootstrap sys.version:", sys.version)
 
   args = sys.argv[1:]