diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-24-21-33-22.bpo-36421.gJ2Pv9.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-24-21-33-22.bpo-36421.gJ2Pv9.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..2577511de2e2d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-24-21-33-22.bpo-36421.gJ2Pv9.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a possible double decref in _ctypes.c's ``PyCArrayType_new()``.
diff --git a/Modules/_ctypes/_ctypes.c b/Modules/_ctypes/_ctypes.c
index f98eabbb370b50..48ad696e10783b 100644
--- a/Modules/_ctypes/_ctypes.c
+++ b/Modules/_ctypes/_ctypes.c
@@ -1481,6 +1481,7 @@ PyCArrayType_new(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
     stgdict->align = itemalign;
     stgdict->length = length;
     stgdict->proto = type_attr;
+    type_attr = NULL;
 
     stgdict->paramfunc = &PyCArrayType_paramfunc;