diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-01-15-15-45-21.gh-issue-128657.P5LNQA.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-01-15-15-45-21.gh-issue-128657.P5LNQA.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3b08a9fba59620
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-01-15-15-45-21.gh-issue-128657.P5LNQA.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix possible extra reference when using objects returned by :func:`hashlib.sha256` under :term:`free threading`.
diff --git a/Modules/_hashopenssl.c b/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
index 082929be3c77b7..d7586feea3efcd 100644
--- a/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_hashopenssl.c
@@ -25,13 +25,14 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include "Python.h"
 #include "pycore_hashtable.h"
-#include "pycore_strhex.h"        // _Py_strhex()
+#include "pycore_strhex.h"               // _Py_strhex()
+#include "pycore_pyatomic_ft_wrappers.h" // FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_RELAXED
 #include "hashlib.h"
 
 /* EVP is the preferred interface to hashing in OpenSSL */
 #include <openssl/evp.h>
 #include <openssl/hmac.h>
-#include <openssl/crypto.h>       // FIPS_mode()
+#include <openssl/crypto.h>              // FIPS_mode()
 /* We use the object interface to discover what hashes OpenSSL supports. */
 #include <openssl/objects.h>
 #include <openssl/err.h>
@@ -369,6 +370,7 @@ static PY_EVP_MD*
 py_digest_by_name(PyObject *module, const char *name, enum Py_hash_type py_ht)
 {
     PY_EVP_MD *digest = NULL;
+    PY_EVP_MD *other_digest = NULL;
     _hashlibstate *state = get_hashlib_state(module);
     py_hashentry_t *entry = (py_hashentry_t *)_Py_hashtable_get(
         state->hashtable, (const void*)name
@@ -379,20 +381,36 @@ py_digest_by_name(PyObject *module, const char *name, enum Py_hash_type py_ht)
         case Py_ht_evp:
         case Py_ht_mac:
         case Py_ht_pbkdf2:
-            if (entry->evp == NULL) {
-                entry->evp = PY_EVP_MD_fetch(entry->ossl_name, NULL);
+            digest = FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_RELAXED(entry->evp);
+            if (digest == NULL) {
+                digest = PY_EVP_MD_fetch(entry->ossl_name, NULL);
+#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+                // exchange just in case another thread did same thing at same time
+                other_digest = _Py_atomic_exchange_ptr(&entry->evp, digest);
+#else
+                entry->evp = digest;
+#endif
             }
-            digest = entry->evp;
             break;
         case Py_ht_evp_nosecurity:
-            if (entry->evp_nosecurity == NULL) {
-                entry->evp_nosecurity = PY_EVP_MD_fetch(entry->ossl_name, "-fips");
+            digest = FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_RELAXED(entry->evp_nosecurity);
+            if (digest == NULL) {
+                digest = PY_EVP_MD_fetch(entry->ossl_name, "-fips");
+#ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
+                // exchange just in case another thread did same thing at same time
+                other_digest = _Py_atomic_exchange_ptr(&entry->evp_nosecurity, digest);
+#else
+                entry->evp_nosecurity = digest;
+#endif
             }
-            digest = entry->evp_nosecurity;
             break;
         }
+        // if another thread same thing at same time make sure we got same ptr
+        assert(other_digest == NULL || other_digest == digest);
         if (digest != NULL) {
-            PY_EVP_MD_up_ref(digest);
+            if (other_digest == NULL) {
+                PY_EVP_MD_up_ref(digest);
+            }
         }
     } else {
         // Fall back for looking up an unindexed OpenSSL specific name.