diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/sites.py b/django/contrib/admin/sites.py
index ca87311cd918a..fc46f030c28a2 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/sites.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/sites.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.admin import ModelAdmin, actions
 from django.contrib.auth import REDIRECT_FIELD_NAME
-from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured, PermissionDenied
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.db.models.base import ModelBase
 from django.http import Http404, HttpResponseRedirect
 from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
@@ -399,8 +399,6 @@ def _build_app_dict(self, request, label=None):
 
             has_module_perms = model_admin.has_module_permission(request)
             if not has_module_perms:
-                if label:
-                    raise PermissionDenied
                 continue
 
             perms = model_admin.get_model_perms(request)
diff --git a/tests/admin_views/admin.py b/tests/admin_views/admin.py
index 5a9923848f515..be38a14b03931 100644
--- a/tests/admin_views/admin.py
+++ b/tests/admin_views/admin.py
@@ -1019,3 +1019,4 @@ def get_formsets_with_inlines(self, request, obj=None):
 
 site7 = admin.AdminSite(name="admin7")
 site7.register(Article, ArticleAdmin2)
+site7.register(Section)
diff --git a/tests/admin_views/tests.py b/tests/admin_views/tests.py
index 3007764b5ded0..0eae2e467ac29 100644
--- a/tests/admin_views/tests.py
+++ b/tests/admin_views/tests.py
@@ -1926,10 +1926,9 @@ def test_disabled_staff_permissions_when_logged_in(self):
         response = self.client.get(reverse('secure_view'), follow=True)
         self.assertContains(response, 'id="login-form"')
 
-    def test_app_index_fail_early(self):
+    def test_app_list_permissions(self):
         """
-        If a user has no module perms, avoid iterating over all the modeladmins
-        in the registry.
+        If a user has no module perms, the app list returns a 404.
         """
         opts = Article._meta
         change_user = User.objects.get(username='changeuser')
@@ -1937,10 +1936,10 @@ def test_app_index_fail_early(self):
 
         self.client.force_login(self.changeuser)
 
-        # the user has no module permissions, because this module doesn't exist
+        # the user has no module permissions
         change_user.user_permissions.remove(permission)
         response = self.client.get(reverse('admin:app_list', args=('admin_views',)))
-        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 403)
+        self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 404)
 
         # the user now has module permissions
         change_user.user_permissions.add(permission)
@@ -2002,30 +2001,38 @@ def test_overriding_has_module_permission(self):
         In this case, it always returns False, so the module should not be
         displayed on the admin index page for any users.
         """
+        articles = Article._meta.verbose_name_plural.title()
+        sections = Section._meta.verbose_name_plural.title()
         index_url = reverse('admin7:index')
 
         self.client.force_login(self.superuser)
         response = self.client.get(index_url)
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'admin_views')
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'Articles')
+        self.assertContains(response, sections)
+        self.assertNotContains(response, articles)
         self.client.logout()
 
         self.client.force_login(self.adduser)
         response = self.client.get(index_url)
         self.assertNotContains(response, 'admin_views')
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'Articles')
+        self.assertNotContains(response, articles)
         self.client.logout()
 
         self.client.force_login(self.changeuser)
         response = self.client.get(index_url)
         self.assertNotContains(response, 'admin_views')
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'Articles')
+        self.assertNotContains(response, articles)
         self.client.logout()
 
         self.client.force_login(self.deleteuser)
         response = self.client.get(index_url)
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'admin_views')
-        self.assertNotContains(response, 'Articles')
+        self.assertNotContains(response, articles)
+
+        # The app list displays Sections but not Articles as the latter has
+        # ModelAdmin.has_module_permission() = False.
+        self.client.force_login(self.superuser)
+        response = self.client.get(reverse('admin7:app_list', args=('admin_views',)))
+        self.assertContains(response, sections)
+        self.assertNotContains(response, articles)
 
     def test_post_save_message_no_forbidden_links_visible(self):
         """