diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-16-10-12-32.gh-issue-153797.VqQ8r1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-16-10-12-32.gh-issue-153797.VqQ8r1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..c82172b2eb40802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-16-10-12-32.gh-issue-153797.VqQ8r1.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a fatal error in debug builds when re-importing a single-phase extension module fails with :exc:MemoryError: the cleanup path removed the module from :data:sys.modules while the exception was still set.
diff --git a/Python/import.c b/Python/import.c
index 63e23e21beb1266..710099151d1f278 100644
--- a/Python/import.c
+++ b/Python/import.c
@@ -2008,7 +2008,7 @@ reload_singlephase_extension(PyThreadState *tstate,
 
     Py_ssize_t index = _get_cached_module_index(cached);
     if (_modules_by_index_set(tstate->interp, index, mod) < 0) {
-        PyMapping_DelItem(modules, info->name);
+        remove_module(tstate, info->name);
         Py_DECREF(mod);
         return NULL;
     }