diff --git a/Modules/getpath.c b/Modules/getpath.c
index 40358190a71..728ecad052e 100644
--- a/Modules/getpath.c
+++ b/Modules/getpath.c
@@ -1263,6 +1263,7 @@ calculate_read_pyenv(PyCalculatePath *calculate)
 
     status = calculate_open_pyenv(calculate, &env_file);
     if (_PyStatus_EXCEPTION(status)) {
+        assert(env_file == NULL);
         return status;
     }
     if (env_file == NULL) {