diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 37dc245ebea..04eb9b14fff 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -573,7 +573,8 @@ class ProcessTestCase(BaseTestCase):
                 subprocess.Popen(['nonexisting_i_hope'],
                                  stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                  stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-            if c.exception.errno != errno.ENOENT:  # ignore "no such file"
+            # ignore errors that indicate the command was not found
+            if c.exception.errno not in (errno.ENOENT, errno.EACCES):
                 raise c.exception
 
     def test_handles_closed_on_exception(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index c3117cbcad0..2b52138f2f5 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -251,6 +251,9 @@ Build
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #11490: test_subprocess:test_leaking_fds_on_error no longer gives a
+  false positive if the last directory in the path is inaccessible.
+
 - Issue #10822: Fix test_posix:test_getgroups failure under Solaris.  Patch
   by Ross Lagerwall.