diff --git a/news/6885.bugfix b/news/6885.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1eedfec9376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/6885.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix 'm' flag erroneously being appended to ABI tag in Python 3.8 on platforms that do not provide SOABI
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/pep425tags.py b/src/pip/_internal/pep425tags.py
index 03a906b94bc..dc4fdcc3add 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/pep425tags.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/pep425tags.py
@@ -117,7 +117,9 @@ def get_abi_tag():
             d = 'd'
         if get_flag('WITH_PYMALLOC',
                     lambda: impl == 'cp',
-                    warn=(impl == 'cp')):
+                    warn=(impl == 'cp' and
+                          sys.version_info < (3, 8))) \
+                and sys.version_info < (3, 8):
             m = 'm'
         if get_flag('Py_UNICODE_SIZE',
                     lambda: sys.maxunicode == 0x10ffff,
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_pep425tags.py b/tests/unit/test_pep425tags.py
index f570de62133..a18f525a98f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_pep425tags.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_pep425tags.py
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ def abi_tag_unicode(self, flags, config_vars):
         base = pip._internal.pep425tags.get_abbr_impl() + \
             pip._internal.pep425tags.get_impl_ver()
 
+        if sys.version_info >= (3, 8):
+            # Python 3.8 removes the m flag, so don't look for it.
+            flags = flags.replace('m', '')
+
         if sys.version_info < (3, 3):
             config_vars.update({'Py_UNICODE_SIZE': 2})
             mock_gcf = self.mock_get_config_var(**config_vars)