diff --git a/Objects/call.c b/Objects/call.c
index af42fc8f7f2dbf..4b1b4bd52a2e56 100644
--- a/Objects/call.c
+++ b/Objects/call.c
@@ -935,6 +935,10 @@ _PyStack_AsDict(PyObject *const *values, PyObject *kwnames)
 
    The newly allocated argument vector supports PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET.
 
+   The positional arguments are borrowed references from the input array
+   (which must be kept alive by the caller). The keyword argument values
+   are new references.
+
    When done, you must call _PyStack_UnpackDict_Free(stack, nargs, kwnames) */
 PyObject *const *
 _PyStack_UnpackDict(PyThreadState *tstate,
@@ -970,9 +974,9 @@ _PyStack_UnpackDict(PyThreadState *tstate,
 
     stack++;  /* For PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET */
 
-    /* Copy positional arguments */
+    /* Copy positional arguments (borrowed references) */
     for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < nargs; i++) {
-        stack[i] = Py_NewRef(args[i]);
+        stack[i] = args[i];
     }
 
     PyObject **kwstack = stack + nargs;
@@ -1009,9 +1013,10 @@ void
 _PyStack_UnpackDict_Free(PyObject *const *stack, Py_ssize_t nargs,
                          PyObject *kwnames)
 {
-    Py_ssize_t n = PyTuple_GET_SIZE(kwnames) + nargs;
-    for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < n; i++) {
-        Py_DECREF(stack[i]);
+    /* Only decref kwargs values, positional args are borrowed */
+    Py_ssize_t nkwargs = PyTuple_GET_SIZE(kwnames);
+    for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < nkwargs; i++) {
+        Py_DECREF(stack[nargs + i]);
     }
     _PyStack_UnpackDict_FreeNoDecRef(stack, kwnames);
 }
diff --git a/Python/ceval.c b/Python/ceval.c
index c59f20bbf1e803..590b315ab65c2c 100644
--- a/Python/ceval.c
+++ b/Python/ceval.c
@@ -2000,11 +2000,16 @@ _PyEvalFramePushAndInit_Ex(PyThreadState *tstate, _PyStackRef func,
             PyStackRef_CLOSE(func);
             goto error;
         }
-        size_t total_args = nargs + PyDict_GET_SIZE(kwargs);
+        size_t nkwargs = PyDict_GET_SIZE(kwargs);
         assert(sizeof(PyObject *) == sizeof(_PyStackRef));
         newargs = (_PyStackRef *)object_array;
-        for (size_t i = 0; i < total_args; i++) {
-            newargs[i] = PyStackRef_FromPyObjectSteal(object_array[i]);
+        /* Positional args are borrowed from callargs tuple, need new reference */
+        for (Py_ssize_t i = 0; i < nargs; i++) {
+            newargs[i] = PyStackRef_FromPyObjectNew(object_array[i]);
+        }
+        /* Keyword args are owned by _PyStack_UnpackDict, steal them */
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < nkwargs; i++) {
+            newargs[nargs + i] = PyStackRef_FromPyObjectSteal(object_array[nargs + i]);
         }
     }
     else {