diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-05-25-17-00-00.gh-issue-150406.jF3g63.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-05-25-17-00-00.gh-issue-150406.jF3g63.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..df9cd1b716ccf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-05-25-17-00-00.gh-issue-150406.jF3g63.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a possible crash in the :mod:`socket` module initialization.
diff --git a/Modules/socketmodule.c b/Modules/socketmodule.c
index 566989d648d2f7..3eaa8cf7548239 100644
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.c
@@ -9293,6 +9293,9 @@ socket_exec(PyObject *m)
     /* Initialize gethostbyname lock */
 #if defined(USE_GETHOSTBYNAME_LOCK)
     netdb_lock = PyThread_allocate_lock();
+    if (netdb_lock == NULL) {
+        goto error;
+    }
 #endif
 
 #ifdef MS_WINDOWS