diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -3444,6 +3444,12 @@
 
         Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
         dirp = fdopendir(fd);
+        if (dirp == NULL) {
+            int save_errno = errno;
+            (void)close(fd);
+            errno = save_errno;
+            fd = -1;
+        }
         Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
     }
     else