diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2018-10-02-22-55-11.bpo-34879.7VNH2a.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2018-10-02-22-55-11.bpo-34879.7VNH2a.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5775a219a27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2018-10-02-22-55-11.bpo-34879.7VNH2a.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a possible null pointer dereference in bytesobject.c.  Patch by Zackery
+Spytz.
diff --git a/Objects/bytesobject.c b/Objects/bytesobject.c
index fb344c1896a..d51d1ba023c 100644
--- a/Objects/bytesobject.c
+++ b/Objects/bytesobject.c
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ formatfloat(PyObject *v, int flags, int prec, int type,
     result = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(p, len);
     PyMem_Free(p);
     *p_result = result;
-    return str;
+    return result != NULL ? str : NULL;
 }
 
 static PyObject *