diff --git a/Lib/importlib/_bootstrap.py b/Lib/importlib/_bootstrap.py
--- a/Lib/importlib/_bootstrap.py
+++ b/Lib/importlib/_bootstrap.py
@@ -998,16 +998,20 @@ def _handle_fromlist(module, fromlist, i
     # If a package was imported, try to import stuff from fromlist.
     if hasattr(module, '__path__'):
         if '*' in fromlist:
             fromlist = list(fromlist)
             fromlist.remove('*')
             if hasattr(module, '__all__'):
                 fromlist.extend(module.__all__)
         for x in fromlist:
+            if not isinstance(x, str):
+                raise TypeError(
+                    f"Item in 'from list' must be str, not {type(x).__name__!r}"
+                )
             if not hasattr(module, x):
                 from_name = '{}.{}'.format(module.__name__, x)
                 try:
                     _call_with_frames_removed(import_, from_name)
                 except ModuleNotFoundError as exc:
                     # Backwards-compatibility dictates we ignore failed
                     # imports triggered by fromlist for modules that don't
                     # exist.
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_importlib/import_/test_api.py b/Lib/test/test_importlib/import_/test_api.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_importlib/import_/test_api.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_importlib/import_/test_api.py
@@ -77,16 +77,23 @@ class APITest:
         mod.__path__ = ['XXX']
         with util.import_state(meta_path=[self.bad_finder_loader]):
             with util.uncache(PKG_NAME):
                 sys.modules[PKG_NAME] = mod
                 with self.assertRaises(ImportError):
                     self.__import__(PKG_NAME,
                                     fromlist=[SUBMOD_NAME.rpartition('.')[-1]])
 
+    def test_fromlist_invalid_type(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError) as cm:
+            self.__import__('encodings', fromlist=[b'aliases'])
+        self.assertEqual(
+            str(cm.exception), "Item in 'from list' must be str, not 'bytes'"
+        )
+
 
 class OldAPITests(APITest):
     bad_finder_loader = BadLoaderFinder
 
 
 (Frozen_OldAPITests,
  Source_OldAPITests
  ) = util.test_both(OldAPITests, __import__=util.__import__)