diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index af528f3..b64189f 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 - Issue #17826: setting an iterable side_effect on a mock function created by
   create_autospec now works. Patch by Kushal Das.
 
+- Issue #17826: setting an iterable side_effect on a mock function created by
+  create_autospec now works. Patch by Kushal Das.
+
 - Issue #20968: unittest.mock.MagicMock now supports division.
   Patch by Johannes Baiter.
 
diff --git a/mock.py b/mock.py
index d47c3f1..d7c0024 100644
--- a/mock.py
+++ b/mock.py
@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@
 import inspect
 import pprint
 import sys
+try:
+    import builtins
+except ImportError:
+    import __builtin__ as builtins
+from types import ModuleType
 
 import six
 from six import wraps
@@ -116,6 +121,8 @@
     del _next
 
 
+_builtins = {name for name in dir(builtins) if not name.startswith('_')}
+
 BaseExceptions = (BaseException,)
 if 'java' in sys.platform:
     # jython
@@ -1302,6 +1309,9 @@
         else:
             local = True
 
+        if name in _builtins and isinstance(target, ModuleType):
+            self.create = True
+
         if not self.create and original is DEFAULT:
             raise AttributeError(
                 "%s does not have the attribute %r" % (target, name)
diff --git a/tests/testpatch.py b/tests/testpatch.py
index 10ca8ed..0a23eeb 100644
--- a/tests/testpatch.py
+++ b/tests/testpatch.py
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@
 
     def test_patchobject_wont_create_by_default(self):
         try:
-            @patch.object(SomeClass, 'frooble', sentinel.Frooble)
+            @patch.object(SomeClass, 'ord', sentinel.Frooble)
             def test():
                 self.fail('Patching non existent attributes should fail')
 
@@ -389,7 +389,27 @@
             pass
         else:
             self.fail('Patching non existent attributes should fail')
-        self.assertFalse(hasattr(SomeClass, 'frooble'))
+        self.assertFalse(hasattr(SomeClass, 'ord'))
+
+
+    def test_patch_builtins_without_create(self):
+        @patch(__name__+'.ord')
+        def test_ord(mock_ord):
+            mock_ord.return_value = 101
+            return ord('c')
+
+        @patch(__name__+'.open')
+        def test_open(mock_open):
+            m = mock_open.return_value
+            m.read.return_value = 'abcd'
+
+            fobj = open('doesnotexists.txt')
+            data = fobj.read()
+            fobj.close()
+            return data
+
+        self.assertEqual(test_ord(), 101)
+        self.assertEqual(test_open(), 'abcd')
 
 
     def test_patch_with_static_methods(self):