diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 0448d643cf5..b32ef9788ce 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -1512,6 +1512,8 @@ class POSIXProcessTestCase(BaseTestCase):
             if not enabled:
                 gc.disable()
 
+    @unittest.skipIf(
+        sys.platform == 'darwin', 'setrlimit() seems to fail on OS X')
     def test_preexec_fork_failure(self):
         # The internal code did not preserve the previous exception when
         # re-enabling garbage collection