diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index b1647419fea..d65a52c6d69 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #11110: Fix _sqlite to not deref a NULL when module creation fails.
+
 - Issue #11089: Fix performance issue limiting the use of ConfigParser()
   with large config files.
 
diff --git a/Modules/_sqlite/module.c b/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
index 155703cdce8..2ca848dd56b 100644
--- a/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
+++ b/Modules/_sqlite/module.c
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ PyMODINIT_FUNC PyInit__sqlite3(void)
         (pysqlite_statement_setup_types() < 0) ||
         (pysqlite_prepare_protocol_setup_types() < 0)
        ) {
-        Py_DECREF(module);
+        Py_XDECREF(module);
         return NULL;
     }