diff --git a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.h b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.h
index d6a456db395b..191213f86e38 100644
--- a/Zend/zend_object_handlers.h
+++ b/Zend/zend_object_handlers.h
@@ -185,6 +185,12 @@ typedef zend_object* (*zend_object_clone_obj_with_t)(zend_object *object, const
 typedef enum {
 	ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER,  /* emalloc → pemalloc (send to another thread) */
 	ZEND_OBJECT_LOAD,      /* pemalloc → emalloc (receive in target thread) */
+	/* The transit shell is being freed: release what TRANSFER acquired into it.
+	 * The handler frees its own C state and returns NULL; it must not call
+	 * default_fn, and `ctx` may be NULL because a release runs outside a
+	 * request. Without this kind, anything a handler stores in the shell is
+	 * unreachable — free_obj never runs for a shell. */
+	ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER_RELEASE,
 } zend_object_transfer_kind_t;
 
 typedef zend_object* (*zend_object_transfer_default_fn)(
diff --git a/Zend/zend_weakrefs.c b/Zend/zend_weakrefs.c
index 36453c5128fb..3bf961586c2f 100644
--- a/Zend/zend_weakrefs.c
+++ b/Zend/zend_weakrefs.c
@@ -818,6 +818,12 @@ static zend_object *zend_weakref_transfer_obj(
 {
 	(void) default_fn;
 
+	if (kind == ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER_RELEASE) {
+		/* The transit wrapper owns nothing of its own: the referent slot and the
+		 * class name are freed by the generic release walk. */
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	if (kind == ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER) {
 		zend_weakref *wr = zend_weakref_from(object);
 		zend_object *referent = wr->referent;
@@ -875,6 +881,12 @@ static zend_object *zend_weakmap_transfer_obj(
 {
 	(void) default_fn;
 
+	if (kind == ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER_RELEASE) {
+		/* The transit wrapper owns nothing of its own: the key/value slots and
+		 * the class name are freed by the generic release walk. */
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	if (kind == ZEND_OBJECT_TRANSFER) {
 		zend_weakmap *wm = zend_weakmap_from(object);
 		const uint32_t num = zend_hash_num_elements(&wm->ht);