diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -6440,14 +6440,15 @@ If there is no limit, return -1.");
 static PyObject *
 posix_pathconf(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
-    PyObject *result = NULL;
+    PyObject *opath, *result = NULL;
     int name;
     char *path;
 
-    if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "sO&:pathconf", &path,
+    if (PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O&O&:pathconf", PyUnicode_FSConverter, &opath,
                          conv_path_confname, &name)) {
     long limit;
 
+    path = PyBytes_AS_STRING(opath);
     errno = 0;
     limit = pathconf(path, name);
     if (limit == -1 && errno != 0) {
@@ -6459,6 +6460,7 @@ posix_pathconf(PyObject *self, PyObject 
     }
     else
         result = PyLong_FromLong(limit);
+    Py_DECREF(opath);
     }
     return result;
 }