diff --git a/Lib/test/test_builtin.py b/Lib/test/test_builtin.py
index 1d2c105ac047e18..38599cc3afb9c12 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_builtin.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_builtin.py
@@ -2229,6 +2229,18 @@ def __getitem__(self, index):
         self.assertComplexesAreIdentical(sum([1.0, complex(1, -0.0)]),
                                          complex(2, -0.0))
 
+    def test_sum_float_subclass(self):
+        # gh-151060: the C fast-sum loop must not free a float subclass with
+        # the exact-float deallocator.  A generator keeps each item's only
+        # reference in sum(), so the specialized DECREF runs the deallocator.
+        class F(float):
+            count = 0
+            def __del__(self):
+                F.count += 1
+
+        self.assertEqual(sum((F(i) for i in range(5)), 1j), complex(10, 1))
+        self.assertEqual(F.count, 5)
+
     @requires_IEEE_754
     @skip_if_double_rounding
     @support.cpython_only    # Other implementations may choose a different algorithm
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-07-22-03-20.gh-issue-151060.tdexEE.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-07-22-03-20.gh-issue-151060.tdexEE.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..1efde8a536c0939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core_and_Builtins/2026-06-07-22-03-20.gh-issue-151060.tdexEE.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix a crash or memory corruption in :func:`sum` when summing a
+:class:`float` subclass instance into a complex running total.
diff --git a/Python/bltinmodule.c b/Python/bltinmodule.c
index d5129bf6a5a6bc0..fbdd637a3fcb78d 100644
--- a/Python/bltinmodule.c
+++ b/Python/bltinmodule.c
@@ -3046,7 +3046,7 @@ builtin_sum_impl(PyObject *module, PyObject *iterable, PyObject *start)
                     return NULL;
                 }
             }
-            if (PyFloat_Check(item)) {
+            if (PyFloat_CheckExact(item)) {
                 double value = PyFloat_AS_DOUBLE(item);
                 re_sum = cs_add(re_sum, value);
                 _Py_DECREF_SPECIALIZED(item, _PyFloat_ExactDealloc);