diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_pythonrun.h b/Include/internal/pycore_pythonrun.h
index d333eb2ccf7c41..eb4d7360084983 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_pythonrun.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_pythonrun.h
@@ -63,6 +63,20 @@ extern PyObject* _PyRun_SimpleString(
 #endif
 
 #ifdef _Py_THREAD_SANITIZER
+/* TSan: tstate_set_stack() only uses half the stack, so the 6-margin
+ * floor that is enough for ASan/debug still leaves Thread bootstrap
+ * without working space (gh-141044). Require 12 margins. */
+#  define _PyOS_MIN_STACK_SIZE (_PyOS_STACK_MARGIN_BYTES * 12)
+#elif (defined(Py_DEBUG) \
+     || defined(_Py_ADDRESS_SANITIZER) \
+     || defined(_Py_UNDEFINED_BEHAVIOR_SANITIZER))
+/* Debug/ASan/UBSan need more than the default 3 margins:
+ * - ASan (gh-141044): instrumentation consumes extra C stack.
+ * - Py_DEBUG / UBSan: larger C frames leave threading.Thread bootstrap
+ *   with no working space above the soft recursion limit at 3 margins,
+ *   leaking thread objects (same failure mode as ASan).
+ * Require 6 margins, matching the builds that already use a larger
+ * _PyOS_LOG2_STACK_MARGIN above. Release builds stay at 3. */
 #  define _PyOS_MIN_STACK_SIZE (_PyOS_STACK_MARGIN_BYTES * 6)
 #else
 #  define _PyOS_MIN_STACK_SIZE (_PyOS_STACK_MARGIN_BYTES * 3)
@@ -73,4 +87,3 @@ extern PyObject* _PyRun_SimpleString(
 }
 #endif
 #endif  // !Py_INTERNAL_PYTHONRUN_H
-
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_thread.py b/Lib/test/test_thread.py
index ac924728febc99..86cb8990d6cbad 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_thread.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_thread.py
@@ -84,6 +84,12 @@ def test_stack_size(self):
             # size must be positive
             thread.stack_size(-4096)
 
+        if support.check_sanitizer(address=True, function=False):
+            # gh-141044: 127 KiB used to be accepted but leaked under ASan
+            with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+                thread.stack_size(127 * 1024)
+            self.assertEqual(thread.stack_size(), 0)
+
     @unittest.skipIf(os.name not in ("nt", "posix"), 'test meant for nt and posix')
     def test_nt_and_posix_stack_size(self):
         try:
@@ -96,12 +102,22 @@ def test_nt_and_posix_stack_size(self):
                           "size")
 
         fail_msg = "stack_size(%d) failed - should succeed"
+        # 256 KiB may be below the sanitizer minimum (gh-141044 / TSan).
+        tested = []
         for tss in (262144, 0x100000, 0):
-            thread.stack_size(tss)
+            try:
+                thread.stack_size(tss)
+            except ValueError:
+                verbose_print("skipping stack_size(%d); below platform minimum"
+                              % tss)
+                continue
             self.assertEqual(thread.stack_size(), tss, fail_msg % tss)
             verbose_print("successfully set stack_size(%d)" % tss)
+            tested.append(tss)
 
         for tss in (262144, 0x100000):
+            if tss not in tested:
+                continue
             verbose_print("trying stack_size = (%d)" % tss)
             self.next_ident = 0
             self.created = 0
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threading.py b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
index 96b43936be92cd..ae8f0faf122c68 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_threading.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
@@ -245,17 +245,19 @@ def f():
             done.wait()
             self.assertEqual(ident[0], tid)
 
-    # run with a small(ish) thread stack size (256 KiB)
+    # run with a small(ish) thread stack size (512 KiB)
     def test_various_ops_small_stack(self):
         if verbose:
-            print('with 256 KiB thread stack size...')
+            print('with 512 KiB thread stack size...')
         try:
-            threading.stack_size(262144)
-        except _thread.error:
+            threading.stack_size(512 * 1024)
+        except (ValueError, _thread.error):
             raise unittest.SkipTest(
-                'platform does not support changing thread stack size')
-        self.test_various_ops()
-        threading.stack_size(0)
+                'platform does not support a 512 KiB thread stack')
+        try:
+            self.test_various_ops()
+        finally:
+            threading.stack_size(0)
 
     # run with a large thread stack size (1 MiB)
     def test_various_ops_large_stack(self):
@@ -269,6 +271,140 @@ def test_various_ops_large_stack(self):
         self.test_various_ops()
         threading.stack_size(0)
 
+    def test_stack_size_no_leak(self):
+        # gh-141044: a custom thread stack size used to leak Thread objects
+        # when the size passed _thread.stack_size() but was too small for
+        # threading.Thread bootstrap under AddressSanitizer.  The reported
+        # repro used 127 KiB and did not join the thread.
+        try:
+            threading.stack_size(0x100000)
+        except (ValueError, _thread.error):
+            self.skipTest(
+                'platform does not support a 1 MiB thread stack')
+        threading.stack_size(0)
+
+        def run_script(script):
+            _, _, err = assert_python_ok(
+                "-c", textwrap.dedent(script),
+                ASAN_OPTIONS="detect_leaks=1:halt_on_error=1")
+            err_s = err.decode("utf-8", "replace")
+            self.assertNotIn("LeakSanitizer", err_s, err_s)
+
+        min_stack_helper = """
+            import os
+            import threading
+            import _thread
+
+            def min_stack_size():
+                page = os.sysconf("SC_PAGESIZE") if hasattr(os, "sysconf") else 4096
+                size = page
+                while size <= 4 * 1024 * 1024:
+                    try:
+                        threading.stack_size(size)
+                    except ValueError:
+                        size += page
+                        continue
+                    except _thread.error:
+                        return None
+                    return size
+                return None
+            """
+
+        # Original reproducer: start, do not join.  127 KiB is rejected on
+        # ASan builds; if a build still accepts it, the thread must not leak.
+        run_script("""
+            import threading
+            try:
+                threading.stack_size(127 * 1024)
+            except ValueError:
+                raise SystemExit(0)
+            def worker():
+                pass
+            t = threading.Thread(target=worker, name="worker-thread")
+            t.start()
+            threading.stack_size(0)
+            """)
+
+        # Smallest accepted size, unjoined.  Wait until the worker finishes
+        # without join(); process shutdown also joins.  LSan plus (on debug
+        # builds) gettotalrefcount() must stay clean at this new minimum.
+        run_script(min_stack_helper + """
+            import gc
+            import sys
+            import time
+
+            def worker():
+                pass
+            size = min_stack_size()
+            if size is None:
+                raise SystemExit(0)
+
+            def wait_unjoined(threads, timeout=30):
+                deadline = time.monotonic() + timeout
+                for t in threads:
+                    while t.is_alive():
+                        if time.monotonic() > deadline:
+                            raise SystemExit("unjoined worker did not finish")
+                        time.sleep(0.001)
+
+            if hasattr(sys, "gettotalrefcount"):
+                gc.collect()
+                gc.collect()
+                start = sys.gettotalrefcount()
+                threads = []
+                for _ in range(8):
+                    t = threading.Thread(target=worker)
+                    t.start()
+                    threads.append(t)
+                wait_unjoined(threads)
+                del threads
+                threading.stack_size(0)
+                gc.collect()
+                gc.collect()
+                delta = sys.gettotalrefcount() - start
+                if delta > 50:
+                    raise SystemExit(f"refcount leak: {delta}")
+            else:
+                t = threading.Thread(target=worker, name="min-stack-worker")
+                t.start()
+                threading.stack_size(0)
+            """)
+
+        # Joined threads at the minimum must not leak references.
+        run_script(min_stack_helper + """
+            import gc
+            import sys
+
+            def worker():
+                pass
+            size = min_stack_size()
+            if size is None:
+                raise SystemExit(0)
+            for _ in range(3):
+                t = threading.Thread(target=worker)
+                t.start()
+                t.join()
+            if hasattr(sys, "gettotalrefcount"):
+                gc.collect()
+                gc.collect()
+                start = sys.gettotalrefcount()
+                for _ in range(8):
+                    t = threading.Thread(target=worker)
+                    t.start()
+                    t.join()
+                threading.stack_size(0)
+                gc.collect()
+                gc.collect()
+                delta = sys.gettotalrefcount() - start
+                if delta > 50:
+                    raise SystemExit(f"refcount leak: {delta}")
+            else:
+                t = threading.Thread(target=worker)
+                t.start()
+                t.join()
+                threading.stack_size(0)
+            """)
+
     def test_foreign_thread(self):
         # Check that a "foreign" thread can use the threading module.
         dummy_thread = None
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-14-20-45-00.gh-issue-141044.Ks8nQm.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-14-20-45-00.gh-issue-141044.Ks8nQm.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8f3adc8c70d696
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-14-20-45-00.gh-issue-141044.Ks8nQm.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Fix a reference leak when creating a :class:`threading.Thread` after
+setting a small custom stack size with :func:`threading.stack_size` in
+debug and sanitizer builds. Those builds need extra C stack, so
+:func:`!_thread.stack_size` now requires 6 stack margins on debug/ASan/UBSan
+builds and 12 on ThreadSanitizer builds (which only use half the stack).
+Sizes that previously appeared to work (for example 127 KiB on 64-bit
+debug/ASan builds) now raise :exc:`ValueError`. Release builds are
+unchanged. Patch by Kailash Nelson.