diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-21-16-24-10.gh-issue-146244.Oztf9i.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-21-16-24-10.gh-issue-146244.Oztf9i.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..dfb4410caff626
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-03-21-16-24-10.gh-issue-146244.Oztf9i.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix memory leak in ``SET_ITEM`` macro in ``initconfig.c`` when expression
+evaluation fails
diff --git a/Python/initconfig.c b/Python/initconfig.c
index caf42f5247c2f2..8dc9602ff13df7 100644
--- a/Python/initconfig.c
+++ b/Python/initconfig.c
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ _Py_COMP_DIAG_IGNORE_DEPR_DECLS
         do { \
             obj = (EXPR); \
             if (obj == NULL) { \
-                return NULL; \
+                goto fail; \
             } \
             int res = PyDict_SetItemString(dict, (KEY), obj); \
             Py_DECREF(obj); \