diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-03-04-10-19-51.gh-issue-116296.gvtxyU.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-03-04-10-19-51.gh-issue-116296.gvtxyU.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0781e928220
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2024-03-04-10-19-51.gh-issue-116296.gvtxyU.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix possible refleak in :meth:`!object.__reduce__` internal error handling.
diff --git a/Objects/typeobject.c b/Objects/typeobject.c
index fe3b7b87c8b..181d0323284 100644
--- a/Objects/typeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/typeobject.c
@@ -6549,6 +6549,7 @@ reduce_newobj(PyObject *obj)
     }
     else {
         /* args == NULL */
+        Py_DECREF(copyreg);
         Py_DECREF(kwargs);
         PyErr_BadInternalCall();
         return NULL;