diff --git a/Objects/typeobject.c b/Objects/typeobject.c
index 53c40885fd621a..71fcb6559fff73 100644
--- a/Objects/typeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/typeobject.c
@@ -5656,6 +5656,42 @@ _Py_type_getattro(PyObject *type, PyObject *name)
     return _Py_type_getattro_impl((PyTypeObject *)type, name, NULL);
 }
 
+static int
+type_update_dict(PyTypeObject *type, PyDictObject *dict, PyObject *name,
+                 PyObject *value, PyObject **old_value)
+{
+    // We don't want any re-entrancy between when we update the dict
+    // and call type_modified_unlocked, including running the destructor
+    // of the current value as it can observe the cache in an inconsistent
+    // state.  Because we have an exact unicode and our dict has exact
+    // unicodes we know that this will all complete without releasing
+    // the locks.
+    if (_PyDict_GetItemRef_Unicode_LockHeld(dict, name, old_value) < 0) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    /* Clear the VALID_VERSION flag of 'type' and all its
+        subclasses.  This could possibly be unified with the
+        update_subclasses() recursion in update_slot(), but carefully:
+        they each have their own conditions on which to stop
+        recursing into subclasses. */
+    type_modified_unlocked(type);
+
+    if (_PyDict_SetItem_LockHeld(dict, name, value) < 0) {
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_AttributeError,
+                     "type object '%.50s' has no attribute '%U'",
+                     ((PyTypeObject*)type)->tp_name, name);
+        _PyObject_SetAttributeErrorContext((PyObject *)type, name);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (is_dunder_name(name)) {
+        return update_slot(type, name);
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 static int
 type_setattro(PyObject *self, PyObject *name, PyObject *value)
 {
@@ -5698,12 +5734,11 @@ type_setattro(PyObject *self, PyObject *name, PyObject *value)
     assert(!_PyType_HasFeature(metatype, Py_TPFLAGS_INLINE_VALUES));
     assert(!_PyType_HasFeature(metatype, Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT));
 
-    PyObject *old_value;
+    PyObject *old_value = NULL;
     PyObject *descr = _PyType_LookupRef(metatype, name);
     if (descr != NULL) {
         descrsetfunc f = Py_TYPE(descr)->tp_descr_set;
         if (f != NULL) {
-            old_value = NULL;
             res = f(descr, (PyObject *)type, value);
             goto done;
         }
@@ -5719,47 +5754,16 @@ type_setattro(PyObject *self, PyObject *name, PyObject *value)
         }
         END_TYPE_LOCK();
         if (dict == NULL) {
-            return -1;
+            res = -1;
+            goto done;
         }
     }
 
-    // We don't want any re-entrancy between when we update the dict
-    // and call type_modified_unlocked, including running the destructor
-    // of the current value as it can observe the cache in an inconsistent
-    // state.  Because we have an exact unicode and our dict has exact
-    // unicodes we know that this will all complete without releasing
-    // the locks.
     BEGIN_TYPE_DICT_LOCK(dict);
-
-    if (_PyDict_GetItemRef_Unicode_LockHeld((PyDictObject *)dict, name, &old_value) < 0) {
-        return -1;
-    }
-
-    /* Clear the VALID_VERSION flag of 'type' and all its
-        subclasses.  This could possibly be unified with the
-        update_subclasses() recursion in update_slot(), but carefully:
-        they each have their own conditions on which to stop
-        recursing into subclasses. */
-    type_modified_unlocked(type);
-
-    res = _PyDict_SetItem_LockHeld((PyDictObject *)dict, name, value);
-
-    if (res == 0) {
-        if (is_dunder_name(name)) {
-            res = update_slot(type, name);
-        }
-    }
-    else if (PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_KeyError)) {
-        PyErr_Format(PyExc_AttributeError,
-                        "type object '%.50s' has no attribute '%U'",
-                        ((PyTypeObject*)type)->tp_name, name);
-
-        _PyObject_SetAttributeErrorContext((PyObject *)type, name);
-    }
-
+    res = type_update_dict(type, (PyDictObject *)dict, name, value, &old_value);
     assert(_PyType_CheckConsistency(type));
-
     END_TYPE_DICT_LOCK();
+
 done:
     Py_DECREF(name);
     Py_XDECREF(descr);