diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b9e70a8e78..e31669926a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1322,6 +1322,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "thiserror 2.0.18",
  "tinyvec",
  "tokio",
+ "tokio-io-timeout",
  "tokio-util",
  "tonic",
  "tracing",
@@ -8010,6 +8011,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tokio-io-timeout"
+version = "1.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0bd86198d9ee903fedd2f9a2e72014287c0d9167e4ae43b5853007205dda1b76"
+dependencies = [
+ "pin-project-lite",
+ "tokio",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-macros"
 version = "2.7.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bff78b4ed3..a9931262dc 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@ tar = "0.4.46"
 tempfile = "3.27.0"
 tinyvec = { version = "1.11.0", features = ["alloc", "latest_stable_rust"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.52.3", features = ["full"] }
+tokio-io-timeout = "1.2"
 tokio-util = { version = "0.7", features = ["io", "io-util", "rt"] }
 tonic = { version = "0.14.6", features = ["gzip", "tls-ring"] }
 tonic-prost = { version = "0.14.6" }
diff --git a/lib/collection/Cargo.toml b/lib/collection/Cargo.toml
index b35b7f5696..b701610dfc 100644
--- a/lib/collection/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lib/collection/Cargo.toml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ smallvec = { workspace = true }
 count-min-sketch = "0.1.8"
 
 tokio = { workspace = true }
+tokio-io-timeout = { workspace = true }
 tokio-util = { workspace = true }
 futures = { workspace = true }
 atomicwrites = { workspace = true}
diff --git a/lib/collection/src/shards/shard_holder/mod.rs b/lib/collection/src/shards/shard_holder/mod.rs
index fb6d5167af..499088d7c9 100644
--- a/lib/collection/src/shards/shard_holder/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/collection/src/shards/shard_holder/mod.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use std::collections::{BTreeMap, HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::ops::Deref as _;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::time::Duration;
 
 use ahash::AHashMap;
 use api::rest::ShardKeyWithFallback;
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ use shard::snapshots::snapshot_manifest::{RecoveryType, SnapshotManifest};
 use shard_mapping::ShardKeyMapping;
 use tokio::runtime::Handle;
 use tokio::sync::{OwnedRwLockReadGuard, RwLock, broadcast};
+use tokio_io_timeout::{TimeoutReader, TimeoutWriter};
 use tokio_util::codec::{BytesCodec, FramedRead};
 use tokio_util::io::SyncIoBridge;
 
@@ -1190,6 +1192,20 @@ impl ShardHolder {
 
         let (read_half, write_half) = tokio::io::duplex(4096);
 
+        // Idle timeout for a stalled transfer. The window is per-operation and
+        // resets on progress, so a large-but-progressing archive is never cut
+        // off; only a genuine stall trips it.
+        const SNAPSHOT_IDLE_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60);
+
+        // Write side: catches a client that stops reading. Once the duplex
+        // buffer fills, writes block; after `SNAPSHOT_IDLE_TIMEOUT` the write
+        // fails, which unwinds the (otherwise un-cancellable) snapshot producer
+        // and releases the segment/WAL locks it holds.
+        let mut write_half = TimeoutWriter::new(write_half);
+        write_half.set_timeout(Some(SNAPSHOT_IDLE_TIMEOUT));
+        // `TimeoutWriter` is `!Unpin`; `SyncIoBridge` needs `Unpin`.
+        let write_half = Box::pin(write_half);
+
         let tar = BuilderExt::new_streaming_owned(SyncIoBridge::new(write_half));
 
         let snapshot_creator = shard
@@ -1226,10 +1242,15 @@ impl ShardHolder {
             }
         });
 
-        Ok(SnapshotStream::new_stream(
-            FramedRead::new(read_half, BytesCodec::new()).map_ok(|bytes| bytes.freeze()),
-            Some(snapshot_file_name),
-        ))
+        // Read side: catches a stalled producer. If no chunk is produced for
+        // `SNAPSHOT_IDLE_TIMEOUT`, the read fails and the stream ends with an
+        // error (whenever actix is polling it, i.e. the client is reading).
+        let mut read_half = TimeoutReader::new(read_half);
+        read_half.set_timeout(Some(SNAPSHOT_IDLE_TIMEOUT));
+
+        let stream = FramedRead::new(read_half, BytesCodec::new()).map_ok(|bytes| bytes.freeze());
+
+        Ok(SnapshotStream::new_stream(stream, Some(snapshot_file_name)))
     }
 
     /// # Cancel safety
@@ -1539,3 +1560,89 @@ pub(crate) enum ShardTransferChange {
 pub fn shard_not_found_error(shard_id: ShardId) -> CollectionError {
     CollectionError::not_found(format!("shard {shard_id}"))
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod snapshot_stream_guard_tests {
+    use std::io::Write as _;
+
+    use futures::StreamExt as _;
+    use tokio::io::{AsyncReadExt as _, AsyncWriteExt as _};
+
+    use super::*;
+
+    const TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_millis(200);
+
+    /// The write-side timeout must fire even though the actual write happens via
+    /// `SyncIoBridge::block_on` on a `spawn_blocking` thread, under a
+    /// current-thread runtime (as the actix worker runtime is). This is the
+    /// fragile assumption the consumer-stall guard rests on, so we pin it down.
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+    async fn write_timeout_fires_when_reader_never_reads() {
+        let (read_half, write_half) = tokio::io::duplex(8);
+        let mut write_half = TimeoutWriter::new(write_half);
+        write_half.set_timeout(Some(TIMEOUT));
+        // Constructed in async context so `SyncIoBridge` captures this runtime.
+        let mut bridge = SyncIoBridge::new(Box::pin(write_half));
+
+        let writer = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
+            // First write fills the 8-byte buffer; the next blocks forever
+            // because nobody reads, so it must fail with `TimedOut`.
+            loop {
+                bridge.write_all(&[0u8; 8])?;
+            }
+            #[expect(unreachable_code)]
+            std::io::Result::Ok(())
+        });
+
+        // Deliberately never read from `read_half`.
+        let err = writer.await.unwrap().unwrap_err();
+        assert_eq!(err.kind(), std::io::ErrorKind::TimedOut);
+        drop(read_half);
+    }
+
+    /// A reader that keeps draining must never trip the write timeout.
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+    async fn write_timeout_does_not_fire_while_draining() {
+        let (mut read_half, write_half) = tokio::io::duplex(8);
+        let mut write_half = TimeoutWriter::new(write_half);
+        write_half.set_timeout(Some(TIMEOUT));
+        let mut bridge = SyncIoBridge::new(Box::pin(write_half));
+
+        let writer = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
+            for _ in 0..64 {
+                bridge.write_all(&[0u8; 8])?;
+            }
+            std::io::Result::Ok(())
+        });
+
+        let mut buf = [0u8; 8];
+        let mut total = 0;
+        while total < 64 * 8 {
+            total += read_half.read(&mut buf).await.unwrap();
+        }
+        writer
+            .await
+            .unwrap()
+            .expect("draining writer should not time out");
+    }
+
+    /// The read side fails with `TimedOut` when the producer stalls, while
+    /// passing data through untouched as long as it flows.
+    #[tokio::test(flavor = "current_thread")]
+    async fn read_timeout_fires_when_producer_stalls() {
+        let (mut write_half, read_half) = tokio::io::duplex(64);
+        let mut read_half = TimeoutReader::new(read_half);
+        read_half.set_timeout(Some(TIMEOUT));
+        let mut framed = Box::pin(FramedRead::new(read_half, BytesCodec::new()));
+
+        write_half.write_all(b"chunk").await.unwrap();
+        let first = framed.next().await.unwrap().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(first.as_ref(), b"chunk");
+
+        // No more writes (but the writer is kept open, so this is a stall, not
+        // EOF): the next read must time out.
+        let err = framed.next().await.unwrap().unwrap_err();
+        assert_eq!(err.kind(), std::io::ErrorKind::TimedOut);
+        drop(write_half);
+    }
+}