diff --git a/Lib/test/test_zlib.py b/Lib/test/test_zlib.py
index 205916579b5f49d..dcb4eac1b779520 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_zlib.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_zlib.py
@@ -822,6 +822,18 @@ def test_decompress_unused_data(self):
                 self.assertEqual(dco.unconsumed_tail, b'')
                 self.assertEqual(dco.unused_data, remainder)
 
+    def test_decompress_unconsumed_tail_after_eof(self):
+        source = b'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
+        remainder = b'0123456789'
+        dco = zlib.decompressobj()
+        data = dco.decompress(zlib.compress(source) + remainder, 1)
+        data += dco.decompress(dco.unconsumed_tail)
+
+        self.assertTrue(dco.eof)
+        self.assertEqual(data, source)
+        self.assertEqual(dco.unconsumed_tail, b'')
+        self.assertEqual(dco.unused_data, remainder)
+
     # issue27164
     def test_decompress_raw_with_dictionary(self):
         zdict = b'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-25-22-15-54.gh-issue-158169.ZlibTail.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-25-22-15-54.gh-issue-158169.ZlibTail.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..7c965451c056a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-09-25-22-15-54.gh-issue-158169.ZlibTail.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Fix :attr:`zlib.Decompress.unconsumed_tail` duplicating
+:attr:`~zlib.Decompress.unused_data` after end of stream when *max_length* was used.
diff --git a/Modules/zlibmodule.c b/Modules/zlibmodule.c
index 56c119db7d10c05..31533fa047af0b6 100644
--- a/Modules/zlibmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/zlibmodule.c
@@ -838,6 +838,7 @@ save_unconsumed_input(compobject *self, Py_buffer *data, int err)
                 return -1;
             }
             Py_SETREF(self->unused_data, new_unused_data);
+            self->zst.next_in += left_size;
             self->zst.avail_in = 0;
         }
     }