diff --git a/ddtrace/profiling/collector/_memalloc.c b/ddtrace/profiling/collector/_memalloc.c
index 1f2b87e0433..b2ac375d02f 100644
--- a/ddtrace/profiling/collector/_memalloc.c
+++ b/ddtrace/profiling/collector/_memalloc.c
@@ -394,20 +394,18 @@ iterevents_new(PyTypeObject* type, PyObject* Py_UNUSED(args), PyObject* Py_UNUSE
     }
 
     IterEventsState* iestate = (IterEventsState*)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
-    if (!iestate)
+    if (!iestate) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "failed to allocate IterEventsState");
         return NULL;
+    }
 
     memalloc_assert_gil();
 
     /* reset the current traceback list */
-    if (memlock_trylock(&g_memalloc_lock)) {
-        iestate->alloc_tracker = global_alloc_tracker;
-        global_alloc_tracker = alloc_tracker_new();
-        memlock_unlock(&g_memalloc_lock);
-    } else {
-        Py_TYPE(iestate)->tp_free(iestate);
-        return NULL;
-    }
+    memlock_lock(&g_memalloc_lock);
+    iestate->alloc_tracker = global_alloc_tracker;
+    global_alloc_tracker = alloc_tracker_new();
+    memlock_unlock(&g_memalloc_lock);
     iestate->seq_index = 0;
 
     PyObject* iter_and_count = PyTuple_New(3);
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/profiling-memalloc-iter-events-null-780fd50bbebbf616.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/profiling-memalloc-iter-events-null-780fd50bbebbf616.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..52a43cbd2a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/profiling-memalloc-iter-events-null-780fd50bbebbf616.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    profiling: fix SystemError from the memory profiler returning NULL when collecting events