diff --git a/Lib/test/test_module.py b/Lib/test/test_module.py
index 1d44563579fd2f..a589f630118fd7 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_module.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_module.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def test_uninitialized(self):
         # and __doc__ is None
         foo = ModuleType.__new__(ModuleType)
         self.assertTrue(foo.__dict__ is None)
-        self.assertRaises(SystemError, dir, foo)
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, dir, foo)
         try:
             s = foo.__name__
             self.fail("__name__ = %s" % repr(s))
diff --git a/Objects/moduleobject.c b/Objects/moduleobject.c
index a6eb85bdc2a962..50e13ed0883968 100644
--- a/Objects/moduleobject.c
+++ b/Objects/moduleobject.c
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ PyModule_GetNameObject(PyObject *m)
         return NULL;
     }
     d = ((PyModuleObject *)m)->md_dict;
-    if (d == NULL ||
+    if (d == NULL || !PyDict_Check(d) ||
         (name = _PyDict_GetItemIdWithError(d, &PyId___name__)) == NULL ||
         !PyUnicode_Check(name))
     {
@@ -823,11 +823,7 @@ module_dir(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
             }
         }
         else {
-            const char *name = PyModule_GetName(self);
-            if (name)
-                PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
-                             "%.200s.__dict__ is not a dictionary",
-                             name);
+            PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError, "<module>.__dict__ is not a dictionary");
         }
     }