diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index ce3e0c232b3..d7db802576c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -554,7 +554,8 @@ class ProcessTestCase(BaseTestCase):
                                  stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
             # Windows raises IOError
             except (IOError, OSError) as err:
-                if err.errno != errno.ENOENT:  # ignore "no such file"
+                # ignore errors that indicate the command was not found
+                if err.errno not in (errno.ENOENT, errno.EACCES): 
                     raise
 
     def test_issue8780(self):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index df2aa4beeb8..2b099783dba 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -221,6 +221,9 @@ Build
 Tests
 -----
 
+- Issue #11490: test_subprocess:test_leaking_fds_on_error no longer gives a
+  false positive if the last directory in the path is inaccessible.
+
 - Issue #10822: Fix test_posix:test_getgroups failure under Solaris.  Patch
   by Ross Lagerwall.