diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -6446,21 +6446,21 @@ posix_pathconf(PyObject *self, PyObject 
 
     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) {
-        if (errno == EINVAL)
-        /* could be a path or name problem */
-        posix_error();
+        long limit;
+
+        path = PyBytes_AS_STRING(opath);
+        errno = 0;
+        limit = pathconf(path, name);
+        if (limit == -1 && errno != 0) {
+            if (errno == EINVAL)
+                /* could be a path or name problem */
+                posix_error();
+            else
+                posix_error_with_filename(path);
+        }
         else
-        posix_error_with_filename(path);
-    }
-    else
-        result = PyLong_FromLong(limit);
-    Py_DECREF(opath);
+            result = PyLong_FromLong(limit);
+        Py_DECREF(opath);
     }
     return result;
 }