diff --git a/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py b/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
index b4a766e89b6..20e76b91ba8 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_exceptions.py
@@ -296,3 +296,10 @@ for args in exceptionList:
                         ( repr(e), checkArgName,
                             repr(expected[checkArgName]),
                             repr(getattr(e, checkArgName)) ))
+
+try:
+    BaseException(a=1)
+except TypeErrror:
+    pass
+else:
+    raise TestFailed("BaseException shouldn't take keyword args")
diff --git a/Objects/exceptions.c b/Objects/exceptions.c
index 16ba5e56c26..28fb0c14e88 100644
--- a/Objects/exceptions.c
+++ b/Objects/exceptions.c
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ BaseException_new(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     PyBaseExceptionObject *self;
 
+    if (!_PyArg_NoKeywords("BaseException", kwds))
+        return NULL;
+
     self = (PyBaseExceptionObject *)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
     /* the dict is created on the fly in PyObject_GenericSetAttr */
     self->message = self->dict = NULL;