diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-25-23-37-26.bpo-36430.sd9xxQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-25-23-37-26.bpo-36430.sd9xxQ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a65ee096efc4a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2019-03-25-23-37-26.bpo-36430.sd9xxQ.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix a possible reference leak in :func:`itertools.count`.
diff --git a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
index 1113fb6b76c03d..bff9df608304b6 100644
--- a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
@@ -4027,6 +4027,7 @@ count_new(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
     lz = (countobject *)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
     if (lz == NULL) {
         Py_XDECREF(long_cnt);
+        Py_DECREF(long_step);
         return NULL;
     }
     lz->cnt = cnt;