diff --git a/src/poetry/utils/helpers.py b/src/poetry/utils/helpers.py
index ebd9e010306..197495fb86d 100644
--- a/src/poetry/utils/helpers.py
+++ b/src/poetry/utils/helpers.py
@@ -350,14 +350,15 @@ def _get_filtered_attrs(
                         if mode != member.mode:
                             new_attrs["mode"] = mode
                     # Ignore ownership for 'data'
-                    if member.uid is not None:
-                        new_attrs["uid"] = None
-                    if member.gid is not None:
-                        new_attrs["gid"] = None
-                    if member.uname is not None:
-                        new_attrs["uname"] = None
-                    if member.gname is not None:
-                        new_attrs["gname"] = None
+                    # Unlike newer versions, TarFile.chown() of older Python
+                    # versions does not tolerate None here: it passes the ids
+                    # straight to os.chown() and looks the names up with
+                    # pwd/grp, catching only KeyError. Use values that are
+                    # accepted and resolve to "leave ownership alone".
+                    new_attrs["uid"] = -1
+                    new_attrs["gid"] = -1
+                    new_attrs["uname"] = ""
+                    new_attrs["gname"] = ""
                     # Check link destination for 'data'
                     if member.islnk() or member.issym():
                         if os.path.isabs(member.linkname):
diff --git a/tests/utils/test_helpers.py b/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
index a44f29c4a1d..c46d79477a5 100644
--- a/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/utils/test_helpers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import contextlib
+import sys
 import tarfile
 
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -223,6 +224,67 @@ def test_extractall_sdist_no_path_traversal(
         assert (dest / target.as_posix().lstrip("/")).exists()
 
 
+def test_extractall_sdist_old_python_owner_filter(
+    tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """The fallback filter must not hand None to old TarFile.chown()."""
+    import io
+
+    archive = tmp_path / "owner.tar.gz"
+    dest = tmp_path / "dest"
+    dest.mkdir()
+    with tarfile.open(archive, "w:gz") as tar:
+        member = tarfile.TarInfo("file.txt")
+        member.size = 4
+        tar.addfile(member, io.BytesIO(b"data"))
+
+    # Take the fallback path and skip the stdlib filter, as on old Python.
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "version_info", (3, 10, 12))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        tarfile.TarFile,
+        "_get_filter_function",
+        lambda self, filter: lambda member, dest_path: member,
+        raising=False,
+    )
+
+    original_getmembers = tarfile.TarFile.getmembers
+
+    def unowned_members(self: tarfile.TarFile) -> list[tarfile.TarInfo]:
+        members = original_getmembers(self)
+        for member in members:
+            for attr in ("uid", "gid", "uname", "gname"):
+                # object.__setattr__ because the declared types are not optional
+                object.__setattr__(member, attr, None)
+        return members
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tarfile.TarFile, "getmembers", unowned_members)
+
+    def lookup(name: str) -> int:
+        """Behaves like pwd.getpwnam()/grp.getgrnam() for an unknown name."""
+        if not isinstance(name, str):
+            raise TypeError(f"argument must be str, not {type(name).__name__}")
+        raise KeyError(name)
+
+    chown_args: list[tuple[int, int, str, str]] = []
+
+    def old_chown(
+        self: tarfile.TarFile, member: tarfile.TarInfo, target: str, numeric_owner: bool
+    ) -> None:
+        # Old TarFile.chown() resolved the names and caught only KeyError.
+        with contextlib.suppress(KeyError):
+            lookup(member.gname)
+        with contextlib.suppress(KeyError):
+            lookup(member.uname)
+        chown_args.append((member.uid, member.gid, member.uname, member.gname))
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(tarfile.TarFile, "chown", old_chown)
+
+    extractall(source=archive, dest=dest, zip=False)
+
+    assert (dest / "file.txt").read_bytes() == b"data"
+    assert chown_args == [(-1, -1, "", "")]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("link_type", [tarfile.SYMTYPE, tarfile.LNKTYPE])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("relative", [False, True])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("existing", [False, True])