diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-18-22-56-27.gh-issue-152125.sEPvJf.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-18-22-56-27.gh-issue-152125.sEPvJf.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..ae66f69f206217
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-07-18-22-56-27.gh-issue-152125.sEPvJf.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix a crash in the :term:`free-threaded build` where :c:func:`PyList_New` could leave
+a newly allocated list's item buffer pointer uninitialized when the backing
+array allocation failed under low memory, leading to an invalid free.
diff --git a/Objects/listobject.c b/Objects/listobject.c
index 8a9c9bda68269b..04db98bc28a5c8 100644
--- a/Objects/listobject.c
+++ b/Objects/listobject.c
@@ -252,10 +252,11 @@ PyList_New(Py_ssize_t size)
             return NULL;
         }
     }
-    if (size <= 0) {
-        op->ob_item = NULL;
-    }
-    else {
+    op->ob_item = NULL;
+    Py_SET_SIZE(op, size);
+    op->allocated = size;
+
+    if (size > 0) {
 #ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
         _PyListArray *array = list_allocate_array(size);
         if (array == NULL) {
@@ -272,8 +273,6 @@ PyList_New(Py_ssize_t size)
             return PyErr_NoMemory();
         }
     }
-    Py_SET_SIZE(op, size);
-    op->allocated = size;
     _PyObject_GC_TRACK(op);
     return (PyObject *) op;
 }