diff --git a/Lib/sre_compile.py b/Lib/sre_compile.py
index 15d2324..97c1663 100644
--- a/Lib/sre_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/sre_compile.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 import _sre, sys
 import sre_parse
 from sre_constants import *
-from _sre import MAXREPEAT
 
 assert _sre.MAGIC == MAGIC, "SRE module mismatch"
 
diff --git a/Lib/sre_constants.py b/Lib/sre_constants.py
index b0175e7..69224e2 100644
--- a/Lib/sre_constants.py
+++ b/Lib/sre_constants.py
@@ -15,7 +15,11 @@
 
 MAGIC = 20031017
 
-from _sre import MAXREPEAT
+try:
+    from _sre import MAXREPEAT
+except ImportError:
+    import _sre
+    MAXREPEAT = _sre.MAXREPEAT = 65535
 
 # SRE standard exception (access as sre.error)
 # should this really be here?
diff --git a/Lib/sre_parse.py b/Lib/sre_parse.py
index e8d35a6..e37e2cf 100644
--- a/Lib/sre_parse.py
+++ b/Lib/sre_parse.py
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 import sys
 
 from sre_constants import *
-from _sre import MAXREPEAT
 
 SPECIAL_CHARS = ".\\[{()*+?^$|"
 REPEAT_CHARS = "*+?{"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 3c44f00..61832f8 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #18050: Fixed an incompatibility of the re module with Python 2.7.3
+  and older binaries.
+
 - Issue #19037: The mailbox module now makes all changes to maildir files
   before moving them into place, to avoid race conditions with other programs
   that may be accessing the maildir directory.