diff --git a/tests/cloudpickle_test.py b/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
index 5aa4baca..c2723443 100644
--- a/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
+++ b/tests/cloudpickle_test.py
@@ -2479,6 +2479,12 @@ def inner_function():
         inner_func = depickled_factory()
         assert inner_func() == _TEST_GLOBAL_VARIABLE
 
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(
+        sys.version_info < (3, 9),
+        reason="Can cause CPython 3.8 to segfault",
+    )
+    # TODO: remove this xfail when we drop support for Python 3.8. We don't
+    # plan to fix it because Python 3.8 is EOL.
     def test_recursion_during_pickling(self):
         class A:
             def __getattribute__(self, name):