diff --git a/task-sdk/src/airflow/sdk/execution_time/task_runner.py b/task-sdk/src/airflow/sdk/execution_time/task_runner.py
index 9f2599a19634b..52c1e9db38a9c 100644
--- a/task-sdk/src/airflow/sdk/execution_time/task_runner.py
+++ b/task-sdk/src/airflow/sdk/execution_time/task_runner.py
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ def xcom_pull(
                 )
 
                 if values is None:
-                    xcoms.append(None)
+                    xcoms.append(default)
                 else:
                     xcoms.extend(values)
             # For single task pulling from unmapped task, return single value
diff --git a/task-sdk/tests/task_sdk/execution_time/test_task_runner.py b/task-sdk/tests/task_sdk/execution_time/test_task_runner.py
index 507e63cfff072..d3498beecd6d2 100644
--- a/task-sdk/tests/task_sdk/execution_time/test_task_runner.py
+++ b/task-sdk/tests/task_sdk/execution_time/test_task_runner.py
@@ -2430,6 +2430,68 @@ def mock_send_side_effect(*args, **kwargs):
             ),
         )
 
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        ("default_value", "task_ids", "map_indexes"),
+        [
+            pytest.param("fallback", "task_a", NOTSET, id="single-task-default-notset"),
+            pytest.param(42, "task_a", NOTSET, id="single-task-int-default-notset"),
+            pytest.param("fallback", None, NOTSET, id="none-task-ids-default-notset"),
+            pytest.param("fallback", "task_a", 0, id="single-task-default-explicit-map"),
+            pytest.param("fallback", "task_a", None, id="single-task-default-map-none"),
+            pytest.param("fallback", ["task_a", "task_b"], NOTSET, id="multi-task-default-notset"),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_xcom_pull_returns_default_when_no_xcom_found(
+        self,
+        default_value,
+        task_ids,
+        map_indexes,
+        create_runtime_ti,
+        mock_supervisor_comms,
+    ):
+        """Test that xcom_pull returns the user-provided default when no XCom is found.
+
+        This is a regression test for the bug where xcom_pull() ignored the ``default``
+        parameter when ``map_indexes`` was not explicitly set (ArgNotSet), always
+        returning None instead of the provided default value.
+        """
+        task = BaseOperator(task_id="pull_task")
+        runtime_ti = create_runtime_ti(task=task)
+
+        with (
+            patch.object(XCom, "get_one", return_value=None),
+            patch.object(XCom, "get_all", return_value=None),
+        ):
+            result = runtime_ti.xcom_pull(
+                key="key",
+                task_ids=task_ids,
+                map_indexes=map_indexes,
+                default=default_value,
+            )
+
+        if map_indexes == NOTSET:
+            # NOTSET path: single task returns default directly; multi-task returns list
+            if isinstance(task_ids, (str, type(None))):
+                assert result == default_value
+            else:
+                assert result == [default_value, default_value]
+        else:
+            # Explicit map_indexes path: single task + single map index returns default directly
+            assert result == default_value
+
+    def test_xcom_pull_default_none_when_not_specified(
+        self,
+        create_runtime_ti,
+        mock_supervisor_comms,
+    ):
+        """Test that xcom_pull returns None as default when no default is provided and no XCom found."""
+        task = BaseOperator(task_id="pull_task")
+        runtime_ti = create_runtime_ti(task=task)
+
+        with patch.object(XCom, "get_all", return_value=None):
+            result = runtime_ti.xcom_pull(key="key", task_ids="task_a")
+            assert result is None
+
     def test_get_param_from_context(
         self, mocked_parse, make_ti_context, mock_supervisor_comms, create_runtime_ti
     ):