diff --git a/Lib/pickle.py b/Lib/pickle.py
index 3e7cf25cb05337..10016dae71fd80 100644
--- a/Lib/pickle.py
+++ b/Lib/pickle.py
@@ -1876,8 +1876,10 @@ def load_build(self):
                     inst_dict[intern(k)] = v
                 else:
                     inst_dict[k] = v
-        if slotstate:
-            for k, v in slotstate.items():
+        if slotstate is not None:
+             if not isinstance(slotstate, dict):
+                raise UnpicklingError("slot state is not a dictionary")
+             for k, v in slotstate.items():
                 setattr(inst, k, v)
     dispatch[BUILD[0]] = load_build
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-08-05-15-15.gh-issue-144411.5SLrNj.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-08-05-15-15.gh-issue-144411.5SLrNj.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..dfef4815b1b4dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-08-05-15-15.gh-issue-144411.5SLrNj.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fixed an inconsistency between the pure-Python and C pickle implementations
+when handling invalid slot state during unpickling.