diff --git a/changelog.d/fixes/14456-admission-lease-pending-abort.md b/changelog.d/fixes/14456-admission-lease-pending-abort.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fb550aa3271
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/fixes/14456-admission-lease-pending-abort.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- fix(resilience): release the admission lease immediately when a client aborts while the chat handler is still pending, not only after it eventually settles (#14456)
diff --git a/src/shared/middleware/chatAdmissionRelease.ts b/src/shared/middleware/chatAdmissionRelease.ts
index 61dde6e3a8d..75ddaa275b8 100644
--- a/src/shared/middleware/chatAdmissionRelease.ts
+++ b/src/shared/middleware/chatAdmissionRelease.ts
@@ -87,9 +87,33 @@ export async function releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler(
   lease: ChatAdmissionLease | null,
   options: ReleaseChatAdmissionOptions = {}
 ): Promise<Response> {
+  const { signal } = options;
+  let abortedWhilePending = false;
+  let detachAbortListener = (): void => undefined;
+
+  if (signal && lease) {
+    const onAbort = (): void => {
+      abortedWhilePending = true;
+      detachAbortListener();
+      if (!lease.released) lease.release();
+    };
+    if (signal.aborted) {
+      onAbort();
+    } else {
+      signal.addEventListener("abort", onAbort, { once: true });
+      detachAbortListener = () => signal.removeEventListener("abort", onAbort);
+    }
+  }
+
   try {
-    return releaseChatAdmissionWhenDone(await responsePromise, lease, options);
+    const response = await responsePromise;
+    detachAbortListener();
+    // The lease was already released by the pending-phase abort listener above;
+    // skip the redundant stream-wrapping work in releaseChatAdmissionWhenDone.
+    if (abortedWhilePending) return response;
+    return releaseChatAdmissionWhenDone(response, lease, options);
   } catch (error) {
+    detachAbortListener();
     lease?.release();
     throw error;
   }
diff --git a/tests/unit/chat-admission-pending-handler-abort-14456.test.ts b/tests/unit/chat-admission-pending-handler-abort-14456.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..17c802d15ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/chat-admission-pending-handler-abort-14456.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+/**
+ * Repro for #14456: an admission lease is NOT released when the client aborts
+ * WHILE the handler promise passed to `releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler` is
+ * still pending. The abort-aware wrapper (`releaseChatAdmissionWhenDone`) is
+ * only installed AFTER `await responsePromise` resolves, so an abort signal
+ * fired during that pending phase has nothing listening to it yet.
+ *
+ * PR #14457 fixed the case where an SSE `Response` already exists and the
+ * client then disconnects (covered by chat-admission-abandoned-stream-lease
+ * .test.ts). It did not touch the pending-handler phase, which is what this
+ * test isolates: the handler (e.g. an in-flight upstream LLM call) has not
+ * resolved to a Response yet when the request aborts.
+ */
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import {
+  ChatAdmissionController,
+  releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler,
+} from "../../src/shared/middleware/chatBodyAdmission.ts";
+
+test("a request that aborts while the handler is still pending must release the lease promptly, not only after the handler eventually settles", async () => {
+  const controller = new ChatAdmissionController(1);
+  const lease = controller.tryAcquireHeavy();
+  assert.ok(lease, "precondition: a slot is available");
+  assert.equal(controller.activeHeavy, 1);
+
+  const abort = new AbortController();
+
+  let resolveHandler!: (value: Response) => void;
+  const handlerPromise = new Promise<Response>((resolve) => {
+    resolveHandler = resolve;
+  });
+
+  const released = releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler(handlerPromise, lease, {
+    signal: abort.signal,
+  });
+
+  abort.abort();
+  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 10));
+
+  assert.equal(
+    controller.activeHeavy,
+    0,
+    "an aborted client must not hold a heavyweight slot while the handler is still pending"
+  );
+
+  resolveHandler(
+    new Response(null, { status: 504, headers: { "content-type": "application/json" } })
+  );
+  await released;
+});
+
+test("a handler that resolves normally without aborting releases exactly once and detaches its abort listener", async () => {
+  const controller = new ChatAdmissionController(1);
+  const lease = controller.tryAcquireHeavy();
+  assert.ok(lease);
+
+  const abort = new AbortController();
+  const response = new Response(null, { status: 200 });
+
+  const result = await releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler(Promise.resolve(response), lease, {
+    signal: abort.signal,
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(controller.activeHeavy, 0, "lease must be released on normal completion");
+  assert.equal(result.status, 200);
+
+  // Aborting after normal completion must not throw or double-release.
+  assert.doesNotThrow(() => abort.abort());
+});
+
+test("an already-aborted signal before releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler is called releases immediately", async () => {
+  const controller = new ChatAdmissionController(1);
+  const lease = controller.tryAcquireHeavy();
+  assert.ok(lease);
+
+  const abort = new AbortController();
+  abort.abort();
+
+  let resolveHandler!: (value: Response) => void;
+  const handlerPromise = new Promise<Response>((resolve) => {
+    resolveHandler = resolve;
+  });
+
+  const released = releaseChatAdmissionAfterHandler(handlerPromise, lease, {
+    signal: abort.signal,
+  });
+
+  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 10));
+
+  assert.equal(controller.activeHeavy, 0, "already-aborted signal must release immediately");
+
+  resolveHandler(new Response(null, { status: 504 }));
+  await released;
+});