diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-10-57-21.bpo-42866.Y1DnrO.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-10-57-21.bpo-42866.Y1DnrO.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3ea6cc239aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2021-01-08-10-57-21.bpo-42866.Y1DnrO.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a reference leak in the ``getcodec()`` function of CJK codecs. Patch by
+Victor Stinner.
diff --git a/Modules/cjkcodecs/cjkcodecs.h b/Modules/cjkcodecs/cjkcodecs.h
index 3b89bc93ed1..ba8fad26055 100644
--- a/Modules/cjkcodecs/cjkcodecs.h
+++ b/Modules/cjkcodecs/cjkcodecs.h
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ getcodec(PyObject *self, PyObject *encoding)
 
     r = PyObject_CallOneArg(cofunc, codecobj);
     Py_DECREF(codecobj);
+    Py_DECREF(cofunc);
 
     return r;
 }