diff --git a/Lib/test/test_compileall.py b/Lib/test/test_compileall.py
index a63af4c0fd2..d1c9ee58bd4 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_compileall.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_compileall.py
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ class CommandLineTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(b'', quiet)
 
     def test_regexp(self):
-        self.assertRunOK('-q', '-x', 'ba.*', self.pkgdir)
+        self.assertRunOK('-q', '-x', 'ba[^\/]*$', self.pkgdir)
         self.assertNotCompiled(self.barfn)
         self.assertCompiled(self.initfn)
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8cfce02108c..a67012656ec 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -561,6 +561,9 @@ Extensions
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #11873: Change regex in test_compileall to fix occasional failures when
+  when the randomly generated temporary path happened to match the regex.
+
 - Issue #11958: Fix FTP tests for IPv6, bind to "::1" instead of "localhost".
   Patch written by Charles-Francois Natali.