check for error conditions in _json #3623
diff --git a/Modules/_json.c b/Modules/_json.c
index 88510a7..832b1ff 100644
--- a/Modules/_json.c
+++ b/Modules/_json.c
@@ -179,11 +179,13 @@
         errmsg_fn = PyObject_GetAttrString(decoder, "errmsg");
         if (errmsg_fn == NULL)
             return;
-        Py_XDECREF(decoder);
+        Py_DECREF(decoder);
     }
     pymsg = PyObject_CallFunction(errmsg_fn, "(zOn)", msg, s, end);
-    PyErr_SetObject(PyExc_ValueError, pymsg);
-    Py_DECREF(pymsg);
+    if (pymsg) {
+        PyErr_SetObject(PyExc_ValueError, pymsg);
+        Py_DECREF(pymsg);
+    }
 /*
 
 def linecol(doc, pos):