diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 75e1cc1..1298434 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #23576: Avoid stalling in SSL reads when EOF has been reached in the
+  SSL layer but the underlying connection hasn't been closed.
+
 - Issue #23504: Added an __all__ to the types module.
 
 - Issue #20204: Added the __module__ attribute to _tkinter classes.
diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index 9539710..e7ba583 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -1717,26 +1717,6 @@
     BIO_set_nbio(SSL_get_rbio(self->ssl), nonblocking);
     BIO_set_nbio(SSL_get_wbio(self->ssl), nonblocking);
 
-    /* first check if there are bytes ready to be read */
-    PySSL_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
-    count = SSL_pending(self->ssl);
-    PySSL_END_ALLOW_THREADS
-
-    if (!count) {
-        sockstate = check_socket_and_wait_for_timeout(sock, 0);
-        if (sockstate == SOCKET_HAS_TIMED_OUT) {
-            PyErr_SetString(PySocketModule.timeout_error,
-                            "The read operation timed out");
-            goto error;
-        } else if (sockstate == SOCKET_TOO_LARGE_FOR_SELECT) {
-            PyErr_SetString(PySSLErrorObject,
-                            "Underlying socket too large for select().");
-            goto error;
-        } else if (sockstate == SOCKET_HAS_BEEN_CLOSED) {
-            count = 0;
-            goto done;
-        }
-    }
     do {
         PySSL_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
         count = SSL_read(self->ssl, mem, len);