diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py
index 552a3d1..5275297 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_ext.py
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 import unittest
 from test import support
 
+# http://bugs.python.org/issue4373
+# Don't load the xx module more than once.
+ALREADY_TESTED = False
+
 class BuildExtTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         # Create a simple test environment
@@ -23,6 +27,7 @@
         shutil.copy(xx_c, self.tmp_dir)
 
     def test_build_ext(self):
+        global ALREADY_TESTED
         xx_c = os.path.join(self.tmp_dir, 'xxmodule.c')
         xx_ext = Extension('xx', [xx_c])
         dist = Distribution({'name': 'xx', 'ext_modules': [xx_ext]})
@@ -45,6 +50,11 @@
         finally:
             sys.stdout = old_stdout
 
+        if ALREADY_TESTED:
+            return
+        else:
+            ALREADY_TESTED = True
+
         import xx
 
         for attr in ('error', 'foo', 'new', 'roj'):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 50a3331..535cca4 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@
 Library
 -------
 
-- Issue #4373: Corrected a potential reference leak in the pickle module.
+- Issue #4373: Corrected a potential reference leak in the pickle module and
+  silenced a false positive ref leak in distutils.tests.test_build_ext.
 
 - Issue #4382: dbm.dumb did not specify the expected file encoding for opened
   files.