diff --git a/doc/whatsnew/fragments/1667.bugfix b/doc/whatsnew/fragments/1667.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f4e3eeec5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/whatsnew/fragments/1667.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix a failure to lint packages with ``__init__.py`` contained in directories lacking ``__init__.py``.
+
+Closes #1667
diff --git a/tests/lint/unittest_lint.py b/tests/lint/unittest_lint.py
index 7db8f47bd1..c9407bbc64 100644
--- a/tests/lint/unittest_lint.py
+++ b/tests/lint/unittest_lint.py
@@ -933,3 +933,12 @@ def test_import_sibling_module_from_namespace(initialized_linter: PyLinter) -> N
         with fix_import_path([tmpdir]):
             linter.check(["submodule2.py"])
     assert not linter.stats.by_msg
+
+
+def test_lint_namespace_package_under_dir(initialized_linter: PyLinter) -> None:
+    """Regression test for https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint/issues/1667"""
+    linter = initialized_linter
+    with tempdir():
+        create_files(["outer/namespace/__init__.py", "outer/namespace/module.py"])
+        linter.check(["outer.namespace"])
+    assert not linter.stats.by_msg