diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-19-33-35.gh-issue-159739.c25c27.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-19-33-35.gh-issue-159739.c25c27.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b48d1e76954193
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-19-19-33-35.gh-issue-159739.c25c27.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix memory leaks during interpreter startup when a path configuration file is
+empty or too large, or when an audit hook rejects a command.
diff --git a/Modules/getpath.c b/Modules/getpath.c
index 1e75993480ae36..ada8a27be4c70f 100644
--- a/Modules/getpath.c
+++ b/Modules/getpath.c
@@ -374,9 +374,11 @@ getpath_readlines(PyObject *Py_UNUSED(self), PyObject *args)
     size_t cb = fread(buffer, 1, MAX_FILE, fp);
     fclose(fp);
     if (!cb) {
+        PyMem_Free(buffer);
         return r;
     }
     if (cb >= MAX_FILE) {
+        PyMem_Free(buffer);
         Py_DECREF(r);
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_MemoryError,
             "cannot read file larger than 32KB during initialization");
diff --git a/Modules/main.c b/Modules/main.c
index 7d30935cd9e356..9977ad5f2d22ec 100644
--- a/Modules/main.c
+++ b/Modules/main.c
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ pymain_run_command(wchar_t *command)
     }
 
     if (PySys_Audit("cpython.run_command", "O", unicode) < 0) {
+        Py_DECREF(unicode);
         return pymain_exit_err_print();
     }