diff --git a/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py b/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
index 0ca90fd4ab453d..56455ac9dc7e89 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py
@@ -717,6 +717,8 @@ def test_int_max_str_digits(self):
         assert_python_failure('-X', 'int_max_str_digits', '-c', code)
         assert_python_failure('-X', 'int_max_str_digits=foo', '-c', code)
         assert_python_failure('-X', 'int_max_str_digits=100', '-c', code)
+        assert_python_failure('-X', 'int_max_str_digits', '-c', code,
+                              PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS='4000')
 
         assert_python_failure('-c', code, PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS='foo')
         assert_python_failure('-c', code, PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS='100')
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-09-21-14-38-31.gh-issue-96848.WuoLzU.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-09-21-14-38-31.gh-issue-96848.WuoLzU.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..a9b04ce87d4d0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2022-09-21-14-38-31.gh-issue-96848.WuoLzU.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix command line parsing: reject :option:`-X int_max_str_digits <-X>` option
+with no value (invalid) when the :envvar:`PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS` environment
+variable is set to a valid limit. Patch by Victor Stinner.
diff --git a/Modules/main.c b/Modules/main.c
index b646fe52e6b35c..dfb618017938ed 100644
--- a/Modules/main.c
+++ b/Modules/main.c
@@ -1813,10 +1813,10 @@ static _PyInitError
 config_init_int_max_str_digits(_PyCoreConfig *config)
 {
     int maxdigits;
-    int valid = 0;
 
     const char *env = config_get_env_var("PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS");
     if (env) {
+        int valid = 0;
         if (!pymain_str_to_int(env, &maxdigits)) {
             valid = ((maxdigits == 0) || (maxdigits >= _PY_LONG_MAX_STR_DIGITS_THRESHOLD));
         }
@@ -1834,6 +1834,7 @@ config_init_int_max_str_digits(_PyCoreConfig *config)
     const wchar_t *xoption = config_get_xoption(config, L"int_max_str_digits");
     if (xoption) {
         const wchar_t *sep = wcschr(xoption, L'=');
+        int valid = 0;
         if (sep) {
             if (!pymain_wstr_to_int(sep + 1, &maxdigits)) {
                 valid = ((maxdigits == 0) || (maxdigits >= _PY_LONG_MAX_STR_DIGITS_THRESHOLD));