diff --git a/Lib/test/test_os.py b/Lib/test/test_os.py
index 3cb411beff8..45f6bd20ee0 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_os.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_os.py
@@ -511,6 +511,9 @@ class URandomTests (unittest.TestCase):
         except NotImplementedError:
             pass
 
+    def test_execvpe_with_bad_arglist(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, os.execvpe, 'notepad', [], None)
+
 class Win32ErrorTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_rename(self):
         self.assertRaises(WindowsError, os.rename, test_support.TESTFN, test_support.TESTFN+".bak")
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 1fbf7c1cfbc..9fd5f0887a5 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1039, #8154: Fix os.execlp() crash with missing 2nd argument.
+
 - Issue #4961: Inconsistent/wrong result of askyesno function in tkMessageBox
   with Tcl/Tk-8.5.
 
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 2ed54e4bdbc..5add8481b8b 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -2979,6 +2979,11 @@ posix_execv(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
                 PyMem_Free(path);
 		return NULL;
 	}
+	if (argc < 1) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "execv() arg 2 must not be empty");
+                PyMem_Free(path);
+		return NULL;
+	}
 
 	argvlist = PyMem_NEW(char *, argc+1);
 	if (argvlist == NULL) {