diff --git a/src/artifacts/inventory/scanReader.ts b/src/artifacts/inventory/scanReader.ts
index aa2a0b391c..6873b14d74 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/inventory/scanReader.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/inventory/scanReader.ts
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ const visitArtifactEntries = async (
       iterator: currentReader.entries(context.signal)[Symbol.asyncIterator](),
     },
   ];
+  let failure: { readonly cause: unknown } | undefined;
   try {
     while (stack.length > 0) {
       const frame = stack.at(-1);
@@ -194,10 +195,27 @@ const visitArtifactEntries = async (
         });
       }
     }
+  } catch (cause: unknown) {
+    failure = { cause };
   } finally {
     // Readers remain owned by the inventory until its complete observation is built.
-    for (const { iterator } of stack) await iterator.return?.();
+    for (const { iterator, prefix, reader } of stack.reverse()) {
+      try {
+        await iterator.return?.();
+      } catch (cause: unknown) {
+        failure = {
+          cause: ArtifactReaderFailure.withCleanup(
+            failure === undefined ? cause : failure.cause,
+            ArtifactReaderFailure.cleanupObservation(
+              cause,
+              `artifact traversal for ${prefix || reader.format}`,
+            ),
+          ),
+        };
+      }
+    }
   }
+  if (failure !== undefined) throw failure.cause;
 };
 
 const digestArtifactEntry = async (
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactInventorySnapshot.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactInventorySnapshot.test.ts
index a72c5de187..daf49215dd 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactInventorySnapshot.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactInventorySnapshot.test.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
-import { rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { mkdir, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 
-import { describe, expect, it, onTestFinished } from "vitest";
+import { createPackage } from "@electron/asar";
+import { describe, expect, it, onTestFinished, vi } from "vitest";
 
 import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../../fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
 
 import { translateArtifactFailure } from "../../../src/artifacts/ArtifactProvider.js";
 import {
   ArtifactReaderFailure,
+  type ArtifactEntry,
   type ArtifactReader,
 } from "../../../src/artifacts/ArtifactReader.js";
 import { ArtifactResourceScope } from "../../../src/artifacts/ArtifactResourceScope.js";
+import { AsarArtifactReader } from "../../../src/artifacts/AsarArtifactReader.js";
 import { DirectoryArtifactReader } from "../../../src/artifacts/DirectoryArtifactReader.js";
 import { scanCanonicalArtifactInventory as scanCanonicalArtifactInventoryOwned } from "../../../src/artifacts/inventory/scanCanonical.js";
 import { scanArtifactInventory } from "../../fixtures/artifactInventory.js";
@@ -89,3 +92,82 @@ describe("artifact inventory snapshot", () => {
     expect(closeAttempts).toBe(2);
   });
 });
+
+it("unwinds every nested traversal and preserves its primary failure", async () => {
+  const root = await createTestTempDirectory(
+    "rea-inventory-traversal-cleanup-",
+  );
+  const contents = join(root, "contents");
+  const bundle = join(root, "bundle");
+  await Promise.all([mkdir(contents), mkdir(bundle)]);
+  await writeFile(join(contents, "member.js"), "module.exports = 1;");
+  await createPackage(contents, join(bundle, "app.asar"));
+  const directory = new DirectoryArtifactReader(bundle);
+  const resourceScope = new ArtifactResourceScope();
+  const returned: string[] = [];
+  onTestFinished(async () => {
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+    await resourceScope.close();
+  });
+  const nestedEntries = AsarArtifactReader.prototype.entries;
+  vi.spyOn(AsarArtifactReader.prototype, "entries").mockImplementation(
+    function (
+      this: AsarArtifactReader,
+      signal,
+    ): AsyncIterableIterator<ArtifactEntry> {
+      const iterator = nestedEntries.call(this, signal)[Symbol.asyncIterator]();
+      return {
+        [Symbol.asyncIterator]() {
+          return this;
+        },
+        async next() {
+          await iterator.next();
+          throw new ArtifactReaderFailure(
+            "integrity",
+            "primary nested member failure",
+          );
+        },
+        async return() {
+          returned.push("nested");
+          await iterator.return?.();
+          return { done: true as const, value: undefined };
+        },
+      };
+    },
+  );
+  const reader: ArtifactReader = {
+    format: "directory",
+    entries(signal): AsyncIterableIterator<ArtifactEntry> {
+      const iterator = directory.entries(signal)[Symbol.asyncIterator]();
+      return {
+        [Symbol.asyncIterator]() {
+          return this;
+        },
+        next: () => iterator.next(),
+        async return() {
+          returned.push("root");
+          await iterator.return?.();
+          throw new Error("root iterator cleanup failed");
+        },
+      };
+    },
+    open: (entry, signal) => directory.open(entry, signal),
+    provenance: () => [],
+    close: () => directory.close(),
+  };
+
+  const failure = await scanCanonicalArtifactInventoryOwned(
+    bundle,
+    { resourceScope },
+    () => reader,
+  ).catch((cause: unknown) => cause);
+  expect(failure).toMatchObject({
+    reason: "integrity",
+    message: "primary nested member failure",
+    cleanup: {
+      reason: "root iterator cleanup failed",
+      resources: ["artifact traversal for directory"],
+    },
+  });
+  expect(returned).toEqual(["nested", "root"]);
+});