diff --git a/Lib/pkgutil.py b/Lib/pkgutil.py
index 2d88568..51da0b1 100644
--- a/Lib/pkgutil.py
+++ b/Lib/pkgutil.py
@@ -191,8 +191,11 @@
 
         yielded = {}
         import inspect
-
-        filenames = os.listdir(self.path)
+        try:
+            filenames = os.listdir(self.path)
+        except OSError:
+            # ignore unreadable directories like import does
+            filenames = []
         filenames.sort()  # handle packages before same-named modules
 
         for fn in filenames:
@@ -205,7 +208,12 @@
 
             if not modname and os.path.isdir(path) and '.' not in fn:
                 modname = fn
-                for fn in os.listdir(path):
+                try:
+                    dircontents = os.listdir(path)
+                except OSError:
+                    # ignore unreadable directories like import does
+                    dircontents = []
+                for fn in dircontents:
                     subname = inspect.getmodulename(fn)
                     if subname=='__init__':
                         ispkg = True