diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 7899aebe062..3bbb19c573f 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -1123,7 +1123,7 @@ def __enter__(self):
         if resource is not None:
             try:
                 self.old_limit = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_CORE)
-                resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_CORE, (0, 0))
+                resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_CORE, (0, self.old_limit[1]))
             except (ValueError, resource.error):
                 pass