diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 4b58308..f1b49d5 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -587,7 +587,8 @@
                 subprocess.Popen(['nonexisting_i_hope'],
                                  stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                  stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-            if c.exception.errno != errno.ENOENT:  # ignore "no such file"
+            # ignore errors that indicate the command was not found
+            if c.exception.errno not in (errno.ENOENT, errno.EACCES): 
                 raise c.exception
 
     def test_issue8780(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 37b6425..f3bc992 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #11490: test_subprocess:test_leaking_fds_on_error no longer gives a
+  false positive if the last directory in the path is inaccessible.
+
 - Issue #11223: Fix test_threadsignals to fail, not hang, when the
   non-semaphore implementation of locks is used under POSIX.