diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index bff6e00a12d..cbac81acaa3 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Library
 - In the curses module, raise an error if window.getstr() or window.instr() is
   passed a negative value.
 
+- Issue #27774: Fix possible Py_DECREF on unowned object in _sre.
+
 - Issue #27760: Fix possible integer overflow in binascii.b2a_qp.
 
 - Issue #27758: Fix possible integer overflow in the _csv module for large record
diff --git a/Modules/_sre.c b/Modules/_sre.c
index d6fcda18b69..8d111e382ab 100644
--- a/Modules/_sre.c
+++ b/Modules/_sre.c
@@ -2137,10 +2137,8 @@ match_groupdict(MatchObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject* kw)
         if (!key)
             goto failed;
         value = match_getslice(self, key, def);
-        if (!value) {
-            Py_DECREF(key);
+        if (!value)
             goto failed;
-        }
         status = PyDict_SetItem(result, key, value);
         Py_DECREF(value);
         if (status < 0)