diff --git a/plugins/memory/holographic/__init__.py b/plugins/memory/holographic/__init__.py
index 681ce7660ce..fa8dae97618 100644
--- a/plugins/memory/holographic/__init__.py
+++ b/plugins/memory/holographic/__init__.py
@@ -251,6 +251,17 @@ class HolographicMemoryProvider(MemoryProvider):
                 logger.debug("Holographic memory_write mirror failed: %s", e)
 
     def shutdown(self) -> None:
+        # Close the SQLite connection deterministically instead of leaking it
+        # to GC. MemoryStore opens its connection with check_same_thread=False
+        # (store.py), so without an explicit close() the sqlite3.Connection's
+        # fd is released by refcount/GC at a non-deterministic time on a
+        # non-deterministic thread, churning a DB fd through the kernel's free
+        # pool on every session teardown. close() already exists and is cheap.
+        if self._store is not None:
+            try:
+                self._store.close()
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.debug("Holographic shutdown close() failed: %s", e)
         self._store = None
         self._retriever = None
 
diff --git a/tests/plugins/memory/test_holographic_shutdown_closes_db.py b/tests/plugins/memory/test_holographic_shutdown_closes_db.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..578a978905d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/plugins/memory/test_holographic_shutdown_closes_db.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+"""Regression test for #44037 — holographic provider leaked its SQLite
+connection to GC on shutdown instead of closing it.
+
+The corruption-mechanism framing in #44037 (TLS bytes written into the DB via
+an fd-recycle race) was not reproducible from the code: dropping a sqlite
+connection flushes valid pages through SQLite's own VFS, never TLS framing, and
+the provider is at most a *releaser* of DB fds, not the TLS-flushing owner.
+
+But the underlying resource-hygiene bug is real and is what this test pins:
+``HolographicMemoryProvider.shutdown()`` must call ``MemoryStore.close()`` so
+the ``check_same_thread=False`` connection's fd is released deterministically
+on shutdown, rather than at a non-deterministic GC time on an arbitrary thread.
+"""
+
+import sqlite3
+
+import pytest
+
+from plugins.memory.holographic import HolographicMemoryProvider
+
+
+def _make_provider(tmp_path):
+    db_path = str(tmp_path / "memory_store.db")
+    provider = HolographicMemoryProvider(config={"db_path": db_path, "hrr_dim": 64})
+    provider.initialize(session_id="test-session")
+    return provider
+
+
+def test_shutdown_closes_store_connection(tmp_path):
+    provider = _make_provider(tmp_path)
+    store = provider._store
+    assert store is not None
+    conn = store._conn
+
+    # Connection is live before shutdown.
+    conn.execute("SELECT 1").fetchone()
+
+    provider.shutdown()
+
+    # References are dropped...
+    assert provider._store is None
+    assert provider._retriever is None
+
+    # ...AND the underlying connection was actually closed (not left to GC).
+    with pytest.raises(sqlite3.ProgrammingError):
+        conn.execute("SELECT 1")
+
+
+def test_shutdown_is_idempotent_and_safe_without_store(tmp_path):
+    provider = _make_provider(tmp_path)
+    provider.shutdown()
+    # Second shutdown (store already None) must not raise.
+    provider.shutdown()
+
+    # A provider that was never initialized must also shut down cleanly.
+    bare = HolographicMemoryProvider(config={"db_path": str(tmp_path / "x.db")})
+    bare.shutdown()