diff --git a/core/src/components/modal/modal.tsx b/core/src/components/modal/modal.tsx
index a02552727eb..2d84e42c964 100644
--- a/core/src/components/modal/modal.tsx
+++ b/core/src/components/modal/modal.tsx
@@ -345,10 +345,47 @@ export class Modal implements ComponentInterface, OverlayInterface {
   }
 
   componentWillLoad() {
-    const { breakpoints, initialBreakpoint, el } = this;
+    const { breakpoints, initialBreakpoint, el, htmlAttributes } = this;
     const isSheetModal = (this.isSheetModal = breakpoints !== undefined && initialBreakpoint !== undefined);
 
-    this.inheritedAttributes = inheritAttributes(el, ['aria-label', 'role']);
+    const attributesToInherit = ['aria-label', 'role'];
+    this.inheritedAttributes = inheritAttributes(el, attributesToInherit);
+
+    /**
+     * When using a controller modal you can set attributes
+     * using the htmlAttributes property. Since the above attributes
+     * need to be inherited inside of the modal, we need to look
+     * and see if these attributes are being set via htmlAttributes.
+     *
+     * We could alternatively move this to componentDidLoad to simplify the work
+     * here, but we'd then need to make inheritedAttributes a State variable,
+     * thus causing another render to always happen after the first render.
+     */
+    if (htmlAttributes !== undefined) {
+      attributesToInherit.forEach((attribute) => {
+        const attributeValue = htmlAttributes[attribute];
+        if (attributeValue) {
+          /**
+           * If an attribute we need to inherit was
+           * set using htmlAttributes then add it to
+           * inheritedAttributes and remove it from htmlAttributes.
+           * This ensures the attribute is inherited and not
+           * set on the host.
+           *
+           * In this case, if an inherited attribute is set
+           * on the host element and using htmlAttributes then
+           * htmlAttributes wins, but that's not a pattern that we recommend.
+           * The only time you'd need htmlAttributes is when using modalController.
+           */
+          this.inheritedAttributes = {
+            ...this.inheritedAttributes,
+            [attribute]: htmlAttributes[attribute],
+          };
+
+          delete htmlAttributes[attribute];
+        }
+      });
+    }
 
     if (isSheetModal) {
       this.currentBreakpoint = this.initialBreakpoint;
diff --git a/core/src/components/modal/test/a11y/modal.spec.ts b/core/src/components/modal/test/a11y/modal.spec.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index a80c33e0b82..00000000000
--- a/core/src/components/modal/test/a11y/modal.spec.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-import { newSpecPage } from '@stencil/core/testing';
-
-import { Modal } from '../../modal';
-
-describe('modal: a11y', () => {
-  it('should allow for custom role', async () => {
-    /**
-     * Note: This example should not be used in production.
-     * This only serves to check that `role` can be customized.
-     */
-    const page = await newSpecPage({
-      components: [Modal],
-      html: `
-        <ion-modal role="alertdialog"></ion-modal>
-      `,
-    });
-
-    const modal = page.body.querySelector('ion-modal')!;
-    const modalWrapper = modal.shadowRoot!.querySelector('.modal-wrapper')!;
-
-    await expect(modalWrapper.getAttribute('role')).toBe('alertdialog');
-  });
-});
diff --git a/core/src/components/modal/test/modal-attributes.spec.tsx b/core/src/components/modal/test/modal-attributes.spec.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..76d9b0aafd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/components/modal/test/modal-attributes.spec.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import { h } from '@stencil/core';
+import { newSpecPage } from '@stencil/core/testing';
+
+import { Modal } from '../modal';
+
+it('should inherit attributes', async () => {
+  /**
+   * Note: This example should not be used in production.
+   * This only serves to check that `role` can be customized.
+   */
+  const page = await newSpecPage({
+    components: [Modal],
+    template: () => <ion-modal overlayIndex={1} aria-label="my label" role="presentation"></ion-modal>,
+  });
+
+  const modal = page.body.querySelector('ion-modal')!;
+  const contentWrapper = modal.shadowRoot!.querySelector('[part="content"]')!;
+
+  expect(contentWrapper.getAttribute('aria-label')).toBe('my label');
+  expect(contentWrapper.getAttribute('role')).toBe('presentation');
+});
+
+it('should inherit attributes when set via htmlAttributes', async () => {
+  const page = await newSpecPage({
+    components: [Modal],
+    template: () => (
+      <ion-modal overlayIndex={1} htmlAttributes={{ 'aria-label': 'my label', role: 'presentation' }}></ion-modal>
+    ),
+  });
+
+  const modal = page.body.querySelector('ion-modal')!;
+  const contentWrapper = modal.shadowRoot!.querySelector('[part="content"]')!;
+
+  expect(contentWrapper.getAttribute('aria-label')).toBe('my label');
+  expect(contentWrapper.getAttribute('role')).toBe('presentation');
+
+  expect(modal.hasAttribute('aria-label')).toBe(false);
+  expect(modal.hasAttribute('role')).toBe(false);
+});