unchanged:
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #17968: Fix memory leak in os.listxattr().
+
 - Issue #17606: Fixed support of encoded byte strings in the XMLGenerator
- .characters() and ignorableWhitespace() methods.  Original patch by Sebastian
+  characters() and ignorableWhitespace() methods.  Original patch by Sebastian
   Ortiz Vasquez.
 
 - Issue #17732: Ignore distutils.cfg options pertaining to install paths if a
diff -u b/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
--- b/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -10625,8 +10625,11 @@
         Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS;
 
         if (length < 0) {
-            if (errno == ERANGE)
+            if (errno == ERANGE) {
+                PyMem_FREE(buffer);
+                buffer = NULL;
                 continue;
+            }
             path_error("listxattr", &path);
             break;
         }