Jordan Crane tries to get through the Gloucester defence
Replacement fly-half Freddie Burns kicked all the points to help struggling Gloucester claim only their third league victory of the season.
Burns, who came into the side after the late withdrawal of Nicky Robinson, kicked two penalties and two drop-goals to hand his side a morale-boosting win.
Opposite number Jeremy Staunton kicked three penalties for the Tigers.
Leicester could have won the match right at the end but wing Lote Tuqiri knocked on with the line at his mercy.
In a frantic finale, Tuqiri would surely have won the match had he caught Anthony Allen's pass with little cover to protect the line.
However, defeat would have been hard on Gloucester, who dominated the second half.
Gloucester have not been helped by the absence of 16 players through injury or international duty - as well as losing full-back Olly Morgan three minutes before kick-off - but Burns' boot put them 9-6 in front at half-time of the forward-dominated contest.
One of the few try-scoring opportunities of the half saw Gloucester wing Lesley Vainikolo get to within 10 metres of the line before referee Sean Davey called the teams back for a forward pass.
At the start of the second period, Staunton's third penalty cancelled out another Burns drop-goal and Leicester carved out a try-scoring chance but Ben Youngs' pass near the Gloucester try-line went flying past flanker Brett Deacon's grasp.
With fly-half Carlos Spencer coming on for Burns, Tigers were pegged back into their own half but the home side could not capitalise - handling and errors at the breakdown allowing Leicester to clear.
The Tigers saw full-back Scott Hamilton sin-binned for killing the ball at a ruck but they still piled on the pressure in the closing stages.
Youngs missed a penalty, Gloucester flanker Jake Boer prevented replacement Toby Flood from attempting a drop-goal while Tuqiri's late error proved costly.
Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath:
"We needed a little bit of fortune at the end, with a missed penalty and the knock-on.
"I have never faulted the players' efforts over the last five or six weeks and sometimes we may be boring to watch but you have to be in the right areas to be in these games and work hard to create pressure.
"And, in the second half, we had huge amounts of pressure and possession and we got a bit of reward."
Leicester coach Richard Cockerill:
"We tried to play too much in the first-half and, in the second-half, when we got the ball, we kicked poorly and they came back at us.
"They camped in our half for the whole of the second period and we defended exceptionally well to keep them out.
"But we were not smart enough and that cost us. We will take the bonus point but we should have won. We thought we had a good chance to win, and rightly so, but they played well in the right areas."
Gloucester: Sharples; Voyce, Trinder, Molenaar, Vainikolo; Burns, Lewis; Wood, Dawidiuk, Somerville, James, Attwood, Buxton, Boer, Delve. Replacements: Spencer for Burns (49), Doran-Jones for Wood (64), Capdevielle for Somerville (69). Not Used: Phillips, Eustace, N. Thomas, Pasqualin, May.
Leicester: Hamilton; Tuqiri, Allen, Mauger, J Murphy; Staunton, B Youngs; Stankovich, Davies, Cole, Parling, Kay, B Deacon, Pienaar, Crane. Replacements: Flood for Staunton (75), Chuter for Davies (57). Not Used: R Harris, J Harris, Green, Hemingway, Grindal, M Smith.
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