diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index ab84a3e5289..cdc256029b9 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ Dmitry Pribysh
 Duncan Betts
 Edison Gustavo Muenz
 Edoardo Batini
+Edson Tadeu M. Manoel
 Eduardo Schettino
 Eli Boyarski
 Elizaveta Shashkova
diff --git a/changelog/7856.bugfix.rst b/changelog/7856.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5f158b4bdad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/7856.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+An error with ``--import-mode=importlib`` used with modules containing dataclasses or pickle was fixed.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
index 0bc5bff2bb5..7df0d4ec5f8 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/pathlib.py
@@ -480,6 +480,7 @@ def import_path(
                 "Can't find module {} at location {}".format(module_name, str(path))
             )
         mod = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+        sys.modules[module_name] = mod
         spec.loader.exec_module(mod)  # type: ignore[union-attr]
         return mod
 
diff --git a/testing/test_pathlib.py b/testing/test_pathlib.py
index e37b33847ee..ebf37a31394 100644
--- a/testing/test_pathlib.py
+++ b/testing/test_pathlib.py
@@ -401,3 +401,54 @@ def test_commonpath() -> None:
     assert commonpath(subpath, path) == path
     assert commonpath(Path(str(path) + "suffix"), path) == path.parent
     assert commonpath(path, path.parent.parent) == path.parent.parent
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def module_with_dataclass(tmpdir):
+    fn = tmpdir.join("test_dataclass.py")
+    fn.write(
+        dedent(f"""\
+            {'from __future__ import annotations' if (3, 7) <= sys.version_info < (3, 10) else ''}
+            
+            from dataclasses import dataclass
+            
+            @dataclass
+            class DataClass:
+                value: str
+            
+            def test_dataclass():
+                assert DataClass(value='test').value == 'test'
+            """
+        )
+    )
+    return fn
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def module_with_pickle(tmpdir):
+    fn = tmpdir.join("test_dataclass.py")
+    fn.write(
+        dedent("""\
+            import pickle
+            
+            def do_action():
+                pass
+            
+            def test_pickle():
+                pickle.dumps(do_action)
+            """
+        )
+    )
+    return fn
+
+
+def test_importmode_importlib_with_dataclass(module_with_dataclass):
+    """Ensure that importlib mode works with a module containing dataclasses"""
+    module = import_path(module_with_dataclass, mode="importlib")
+    module.test_dataclass()
+
+
+def test_importmode_importlib_with_pickle(module_with_pickle):
+    """Ensure that importlib mode works with pickle"""
+    module = import_path(module_with_pickle, mode="importlib")
+    module.test_pickle()