diff --git a/Python/pythonrun.c b/Python/pythonrun.c
index b55dc5b2016..232d7befa02 100644
--- a/Python/pythonrun.c
+++ b/Python/pythonrun.c
@@ -1593,7 +1593,7 @@ print_exception(PyObject *f, PyObject *value)
         moduleName = PyObject_GetAttrString(type, "__module__");
         if (moduleName == NULL || !PyUnicode_Check(moduleName))
         {
-            Py_DECREF(moduleName);
+            Py_XDECREF(moduleName);
             err = PyFile_WriteString("<unknown>", f);
         }
         else {