diff --git a/Lib/test/test_dict.py b/Lib/test/test_dict.py
index 26bdaa9d6a35b7c..9d013e3d2caa1c3 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_dict.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_dict.py
@@ -479,6 +479,13 @@ def test_copy_noncompact(self):
         d2 = d.copy()
         self.assertEqual(d2, d)
 
+    @support.nomemtest
+    def test_copy_empty_no_memory(self):
+        import _testcapi
+        d = {}
+        with self.assertRaises(MemoryError):
+            _testcapi.call_with_nomemory(0, 0, d.copy)
+
     def test_get(self):
         d = {}
         self.assertIs(d.get('c'), None)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-12-23-32-50.gh-issue-159285.nlLuwQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-12-23-32-50.gh-issue-159285.nlLuwQ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..0cb795f8309f73e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-10-12-23-32-50.gh-issue-159285.nlLuwQ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a crash in a debug build when copying an empty :class:`dict` fails with
+:exc:`MemoryError`. Patch by Christian Aurich Zanettini Martins.
diff --git a/Objects/dictobject.c b/Objects/dictobject.c
index eed9bd92c55bf2b..13c9e2e4b395abd 100644
--- a/Objects/dictobject.c
+++ b/Objects/dictobject.c
@@ -4497,7 +4497,7 @@ copy_lock_held_untracked(PyObject *o, int as_frozendict)
         else {
             d = dict_new_untracked(&PyDict_Type);
         }
-        assert(!_PyObject_GC_IS_TRACKED(d));
+        assert(d == NULL || !_PyObject_GC_IS_TRACKED(d));
         return d;
     }