diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-09-07-22-49-37.gh-issue-96652.YqOKxI.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-09-07-22-49-37.gh-issue-96652.YqOKxI.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1d04db7b2a2531154ce941b615a91c036446ba3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2022-09-07-22-49-37.gh-issue-96652.YqOKxI.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix the faulthandler implementation of ``faulthandler.register(signal,
+chain=True)`` if the ``sigaction()`` function is not available: don't call
+the previous signal handler if it's NULL. Patch by Victor Stinner.
diff --git a/Modules/faulthandler.c b/Modules/faulthandler.c
index 3026bb6a3432aaa4e983ca44eae6ccb748906e37..4847c1cb87bc8e035778c3bd80f1fb8bb8cf5b28 100644
--- a/Modules/faulthandler.c
+++ b/Modules/faulthandler.c
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ faulthandler_user(int signum)
         errno = save_errno;
     }
 #else
-    if (user->chain) {
+    if (user->chain && user->previous != NULL) {
         errno = save_errno;
         /* call the previous signal handler */
         user->previous(signum);