diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/validate-modules_found_try_except_import_fails_module_attribute.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/validate-modules_found_try_except_import_fails_module_attribute.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b14be52a3f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/validate-modules_found_try_except_import_fails_module_attribute.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+- validate-modules - do not raise an ``AttributeError`` if a value is assigned to a module attribute in a try/except block.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/main.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/main.py
index 7961421152a..e7379288d70 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/main.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/main.py
@@ -666,6 +666,8 @@ class ModuleValidator(Validator):
                         found_try_except_import = True
                     if isinstance(grandchild, ast.Assign):
                         for target in grandchild.targets:
+                            if not isinstance(target, ast.Name):
+                                continue
                             if target.id.lower().startswith('has_'):
                                 found_has = True
             if found_try_except_import and not found_has: