diff --git a/Modules/socketmodule.c b/Modules/socketmodule.c
index bb5edc368decb3..9a4dcd863bba52 100644
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.c
@@ -7317,7 +7317,6 @@ os_init(void)
 static void
 sock_free_api(PySocketModule_APIObject *capi)
 {
-    Py_DECREF(capi->Sock_Type);
     Py_DECREF(capi->error);
     Py_DECREF(capi->timeout_error);
     PyMem_Free(capi);
@@ -7339,7 +7338,7 @@ sock_get_api(socket_state *state)
         return NULL;
     }
 
-    capi->Sock_Type = (PyTypeObject *)Py_NewRef(state->sock_type);
+    capi->Sock_Type = state->sock_type;
     capi->error = Py_NewRef(PyExc_OSError);
     capi->timeout_error = Py_NewRef(PyExc_TimeoutError);
     return capi;
diff --git a/Modules/socketmodule.h b/Modules/socketmodule.h
index 47146a28e02c8f..51a4b8de3931b4 100644
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.h
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.h
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ typedef struct {
 /* C API for usage by other Python modules.
  * Always add new things to the end for binary compatibility. */
 typedef struct {
-    PyTypeObject *Sock_Type;
+    PyTypeObject *Sock_Type;  // borrowed reference (gh-108240)
     PyObject *error;
     PyObject *timeout_error;
 } PySocketModule_APIObject;