diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 118af045c2..8d52bace11 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ A brief description of the categories of changes:
   cause warnings by default. In order to see the warnings for diagnostic purposes
   set the env var `RULES_PYTHON_REPO_DEBUG_VERBOSITY` to one of `INFO`, `DEBUG` or `TRACE`.
   Fixes [#1818](https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/issues/1818).
+* (runfiles) Make runfiles lookups work for the situation of Bazel 7,
+  Python 3.9 (or earlier, where safepath isn't present), and the Rlocation call
+  in the same directory as the main file.
+  Fixes [#1631](https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_python/issues/1631).
 
 ### Added
 * (rules) `PYTHONSAFEPATH` is inherited from the calling environment to allow
diff --git a/python/runfiles/runfiles.py b/python/runfiles/runfiles.py
index ffa2473f5c..6d47d249b4 100644
--- a/python/runfiles/runfiles.py
+++ b/python/runfiles/runfiles.py
@@ -247,6 +247,20 @@ def CurrentRepository(self, frame: int = 1) -> str:
             raise ValueError("failed to determine caller's file path") from exc
         caller_runfiles_path = os.path.relpath(caller_path, self._python_runfiles_root)
         if caller_runfiles_path.startswith(".." + os.path.sep):
+            # With Python 3.10 and earlier, sys.path contains the directory
+            # of the script, which can result in a module being loaded from
+            # outside the runfiles tree. In this case, assume that the module is
+            # located in the main repository.
+            # With Python 3.11 and higher, the Python launcher sets
+            # PYTHONSAFEPATH, which prevents this behavior.
+            # TODO: This doesn't cover the case of a script being run from an
+            #       external repository, which could be heuristically detected
+            #       by parsing the script's path.
+            if (
+                sys.version_info.minor <= 10
+                and sys.path[0] != self._python_runfiles_root
+            ):
+                return ""
             raise ValueError(
                 "{} does not lie under the runfiles root {}".format(
                     caller_path, self._python_runfiles_root