diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index ffcc4a9f612..83a271e23eb 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -528,6 +528,10 @@ newPySSLSocket(PySSLContext *sslctx, PySocketSockObject *sock,
 
     self->socket_type = socket_type;
     self->Socket = PyWeakref_NewRef((PyObject *) sock, NULL);
+    if (self->Socket == NULL) {
+        Py_DECREF(self);
+        return NULL;
+    }
     return self;
 }