diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index e13063195e..2f439f9658 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ GIT_TEST_SANITIZE_LEAK_LOG=true will log memory leaks to
 "dedup_token" (see +"ASAN_OPTIONS=help=1 ./git") and other options to
 make logs +machine-readable.
 
+With GIT_TEST_SANITIZE_LEAK_LOG=true we'll look at the leak logs
+before exiting and exit on failure if the logs showed that we had a
+memory leak, even if the test itself would have otherwise passed. This
+allows us to catch e.g. missing &&-chaining. This is especially useful
+when combined with "GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK", see below.
+
 GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK=check when combined with "--immediate"
 will run to completion faster, and result in the same failing
 tests. The only practical reason to run
@@ -393,6 +399,15 @@ combine it with "GIT_TEST_SANITIZE_LEAK_LOG=true". If we stop at the
 first failing test case our leak logs won't show subsequent leaks we
 might have run into.
 
+GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK=(true|check) will not catch all memory
+leaks unless combined with GIT_TEST_SANITIZE_LEAK_LOG=true. Some tests
+run "git" (or "test-tool" etc.) without properly checking the exit
+code, or git will invoke itself and fail to ferry the abort() exit
+code to the original caller. When the two modes are combined we'll
+look at the "test-results/$TEST_NAME.leak/trace.*" files at the end of
+the test run to see if had memory leaks which the test itself didn't
+catch.
+
 GIT_TEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION=<n>, when set, makes 'protocol.version'
 default to n.
 
diff --git a/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh b/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
index 5b8e47e346..e8a58b1589 100755
--- a/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
+++ b/t/t1060-object-corruption.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 test_description='see how we handle various forms of corruption'
 
-TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 # convert "1234abcd" to ".git/objects/12/34abcd"
diff --git a/t/t6407-merge-binary.sh b/t/t6407-merge-binary.sh
index 0753fc95f4..e8a28717ce 100755
--- a/t/t6407-merge-binary.sh
+++ b/t/t6407-merge-binary.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ test_description='ask merge-recursive to merge binary files'
 GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME=main
 export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
-TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 test_expect_success setup '
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 3d0c8896e0..10258def7b 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE_PFX=trace
 TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR_SFX=leak
 TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE=
 TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR="$TEST_RESULTS_DIR/$TEST_NAME.$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR_SFX"
+TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR_NR_LEAKS_STARTUP=
 TRASH_DIRECTORY="trash directory.$TEST_NAME$TEST_STRESS_JOB_SFX"
 test -n "$root" && TRASH_DIRECTORY="$root/$TRASH_DIRECTORY"
 case "$TRASH_DIRECTORY" in
@@ -316,6 +317,16 @@ case "$TRASH_DIRECTORY" in
  *) TRASH_DIRECTORY="$TEST_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY/$TRASH_DIRECTORY" ;;
 esac
 
+# Utility functions using $TEST_RESULTS_* variables
+nr_san_dir_leaks_ () {
+	# stderr piped to /dev/null because the directory may have
+	# been "rmdir"'d already.
+	find "$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR" \
+		-type f \
+		-name "$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE_PFX.*" 2>/dev/null |
+	wc -l
+}
+
 # If --stress was passed, run this test repeatedly in several parallel loops.
 if test "$GIT_TEST_STRESS_STARTED" = "done"
 then
@@ -1191,6 +1202,66 @@ test_atexit_handler () {
 	teardown_malloc_check
 }
 
+sanitize_leak_log_message_ () {
+	local new="$1" &&
+	local old="$2" &&
+	local file="$3" &&
+
+	printf "With SANITIZE=leak at exit we have %d leak logs, but started with %d
+
+This means that we have a blindspot where git is leaking but we're
+losing the exit code somewhere, or not propagating it appropriately
+upwards!
+
+See the logs at \"%s.*\";
+those logs are reproduced below." \
+	       "$new" "$old" "$file"
+}
+
+check_test_results_san_file_ () {
+	if test -z "$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE"
+	then
+		return
+	fi &&
+	local old="$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR_NR_LEAKS_STARTUP" &&
+	local new="$(nr_san_dir_leaks_)" &&
+
+	if test $new -le $old
+	then
+		return
+	fi &&
+	local out="$(sanitize_leak_log_message_ "$new" "$old" "$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE")" &&
+	say_color error "$out" &&
+	if test "$old" != 0
+	then
+		echo &&
+		say_color error "The logs include output from past runs to avoid" &&
+		say_color error "that remove 'test-results' between runs."
+	fi &&
+	say_color error "$(cat "$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE".*)" &&
+
+	if test -n "$passes_sanitize_leak" && test "$test_failure" = 0
+	then
+		say "As TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true and our logs show we're leaking, exit non-zero!" &&
+		invert_exit_code=t
+	elif test -n "$passes_sanitize_leak"
+	then
+		say "As TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true and our logs show we're leaking, and we're failing for other reasons too..." &&
+		invert_exit_code=
+	elif test -n "$sanitize_leak_check" && test "$test_failure" = 0
+	then
+		say "As TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true isn't set the above leak is 'ok' with GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK=check" &&
+		invert_exit_code=
+	elif test -n "$sanitize_leak_check"
+	then
+		say "As TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true isn't set the above leak is 'ok' with GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK=check" &&
+		invert_exit_code=t
+	else
+		say "With GIT_TEST_SANITIZE_LEAK_LOG=true our logs revealed a memory leak, exit non-zero!" &&
+		invert_exit_code=t
+	fi
+}
+
 test_done () {
 	# Run the atexit commands _before_ the trash directory is
 	# removed, so the commands can access pidfiles and socket files.
@@ -1270,6 +1341,8 @@ test_done () {
 			error "Tests passed but test cleanup failed; aborting"
 		fi
 
+		check_test_results_san_file_ "$test_failure"
+
 		if test -z "$skip_all" && test -n "$invert_exit_code"
 		then
 			say_color warn "# faking up non-zero exit with --invert-exit-code"
@@ -1286,6 +1359,8 @@ test_done () {
 		say_color error "# failed $test_failure among $msg"
 		say "1..$test_count"
 
+		check_test_results_san_file_ "$test_failure"
+
 		if test -n "$invert_exit_code"
 		then
 			_invert_exit_code_failure_end_blurb
@@ -1464,6 +1539,7 @@ then
 
 	if test "$GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK" = "check"
 	then
+		sanitize_leak_check=t
 		if test -n "$invert_exit_code"
 		then
 			BAIL_OUT "cannot use --invert-exit-code under GIT_TEST_PASSING_SANITIZE_LEAK=check"
@@ -1489,6 +1565,10 @@ then
 		fi &&
 		TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE="$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR/$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_FILE_PFX"
 
+		# In case "test-results" is left over from a previous
+		# run: Only report if new leaks show up.
+		TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR_NR_LEAKS_STARTUP=$(nr_san_dir_leaks_)
+
 		# Don't litter *.leak dirs if there was nothing to report
 		test_atexit "rmdir \"$TEST_RESULTS_SAN_DIR\" 2>/dev/null || :"