diff --git a/beaker-vmpooler.gemspec b/beaker-vmpooler.gemspec
index 1b195d5..28ce39a 100644
--- a/beaker-vmpooler.gemspec
+++ b/beaker-vmpooler.gemspec
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   # Testing dependencies
   s.add_development_dependency 'rspec', '~> 3.0'
   s.add_development_dependency 'rspec-its'
-  s.add_development_dependency 'fakefs', '~> 0.6'
+  # pin fakefs for Ruby < 2.3
+  if RUBY_VERSION < "2.3"
+    s.add_development_dependency 'fakefs', '~> 0.6', '< 0.14'
+  else
+    s.add_development_dependency 'fakefs', '~> 0.6'
+  end
   s.add_development_dependency 'rake', '~> 10.1'
   s.add_development_dependency 'simplecov'
   s.add_development_dependency 'pry', '~> 0.10'