diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-11-05-10-51-17.gh-issue-161407.rVoqaQ.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-11-05-10-51-17.gh-issue-161407.rVoqaQ.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..421329930f961a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-11-05-10-51-17.gh-issue-161407.rVoqaQ.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix a crash at exit when an audit hook was added with :c:func:`PySys_AddAuditHook`
+before :c:func:`Py_Initialize` and the raw memory allocator changed during startup, for
+example with ``PYTHONMALLOC=mimalloc`` or in the :ref:`Python Development Mode <devmode>`.
diff --git a/Python/sysmodule.c b/Python/sysmodule.c
index 6f336dac058379e..e8dd956c3f48828 100644
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ _PySys_ClearAuditHooks(PyThreadState *ts)
     runtime->audit_hooks.head = NULL;
     while (e) {
         n = e->next;
-        PyMem_RawFree(e);
+        free(e);
         e = n;
     }
 }
@@ -496,7 +496,11 @@ PySys_AddAuditHook(Py_AuditHookFunction hook, void *userData)
         }
     }
 
-    _Py_AuditHookEntry *e = (_Py_AuditHookEntry*)PyMem_RawMalloc(
+    /* Use malloc(), not PyMem_RawMalloc(): a hook can be added before
+       Py_Initialize(), and the entry is freed during finalization, after
+       PYTHONMALLOC may have changed the raw allocator (and, in debug builds,
+       the allocator under the debug hooks). */
+    _Py_AuditHookEntry *e = (_Py_AuditHookEntry*)malloc(
             sizeof(_Py_AuditHookEntry));
     if (!e) {
         if (tstate != NULL) {