diff --git a/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py b/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
index 77334aea3836b98..0ea4384d27c4b74 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import importlib
 import pickle
+import sys
 import threading
+import types
 from textwrap import dedent
 import unittest
 
@@ -381,6 +383,40 @@ def test_put_get_full_fallback(self):
                 self.assertEqual(obj, obj2)
                 self.assertIsNot(obj, obj2)
 
+    def _check_unpickle_attributeerror_arg(self, arg):
+        # Put an object through a queue where get() must re-import its class
+        # via a module __getattr__ that raises AttributeError(arg).
+        modname = '_test_xi_attrerr'
+        mod = types.ModuleType(modname)
+        class Thing:
+            pass
+        Thing.__module__ = modname
+        Thing.__qualname__ = 'Thing'
+        mod.Thing = Thing
+        sys.modules[modname] = mod
+        self.addCleanup(sys.modules.pop, modname, None)
+        queue = queues.create()
+        queue.put(Thing())
+        del mod.Thing
+        def raise_attributeerror(name):
+            raise AttributeError(arg)
+        mod.__getattr__ = raise_attributeerror
+        with self.assertRaises(interpreters.NotShareableError):
+            queue.get()
+
+    def test_get_unpickle_fails_with_bad_attributeerror_arg(self):
+        # gh-151862: an AttributeError arg that can't be UTF-8 encoded used
+        # to crash (NULL deref); covers both non-str and surrogate-str args.
+        for arg in [42, b'x', None, '\ud800']:
+            with self.subTest(arg=arg):
+                self._check_unpickle_attributeerror_arg(arg)
+
+    def test_get_unpickle_fails_with_str_attributeerror_arg(self):
+        # Positive control: a normal str arg must not crash, locking in the
+        # non-NULL strncmp() path.
+        with self.subTest(arg='boom'):
+            self._check_unpickle_attributeerror_arg('boom')
+
     def test_put_get_same_interpreter(self):
         interp = interpreters.create()
         interp.exec(dedent("""
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-21-12-00-00.gh-issue-151862.Xq7vTm.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-21-12-00-00.gh-issue-151862.Xq7vTm.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..95b2a89a4a3aa05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-21-12-00-00.gh-issue-151862.Xq7vTm.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fixed a crash (``NULL`` dereference) when an object passed between
+interpreters via :mod:`concurrent.interpreters` fails to unpickle with an
+:exc:`AttributeError` whose first argument is not a string.
diff --git a/Python/crossinterp.c b/Python/crossinterp.c
index 6b489bf03f86ecd..2d11d7442cf283c 100644
--- a/Python/crossinterp.c
+++ b/Python/crossinterp.c
@@ -664,6 +664,11 @@ check_missing___main___attr(PyObject *exc)
         }
     }
     const char *err = PyUnicode_AsUTF8(msgobj);
+    if (err == NULL) {
+        PyErr_Clear();
+        Py_DECREF(msgobj);
+        return 0;
+    }
 
     // Check if it's a missing __main__ attr.
     int cmp = strncmp(err, "module '__main__' has no attribute '", 36);