diff --git a/Modules/_hashopenssl.c b/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
index b2c67759e95ea3..13634a579f0ddb 100644
--- a/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
@@ -2109,6 +2109,7 @@ hashlib_init_constructors(PyObject *module)
     if (PyModule_AddObjectRef(module, "_constructors", proxy) < 0) {
         return -1;
     }
+    Py_DECREF(proxy);
     return 0;
 }