diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-15-00-00-00.gh-issue-144833.TUelo1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-15-00-00-00.gh-issue-144833.TUelo1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..6d5b18f59ee7ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-15-00-00-00.gh-issue-144833.TUelo1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fixed a use-after-free in :mod:`ssl` when ``SSL_new()`` returns NULL in
+``newPySSLSocket()``. The error was reported via a dangling pointer after the
+object had already been freed.
diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index 0b8cf0b6df3ca5..aae4dc323dd646 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -838,8 +838,8 @@ newPySSLSocket(PySSLContext *sslctx, PySocketSockObject *sock,
     self->ssl = SSL_new(ctx);
     PySSL_END_ALLOW_THREADS
     if (self->ssl == NULL) {
+        _setSSLError(get_state_ctx(sslctx), NULL, 0, __FILE__, __LINE__);
         Py_DECREF(self);
-        _setSSLError(get_state_ctx(self), NULL, 0, __FILE__, __LINE__);
         return NULL;
     }
     /* bpo43522 and OpenSSL < 1.1.1l: copy hostflags manually */