diff --git a/src/artifacts/ReleaseExposureReader.ts b/src/artifacts/ReleaseExposureReader.ts
index 753c6695d0..cb9d323f9b 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/ReleaseExposureReader.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/ReleaseExposureReader.ts
@@ -3110,19 +3110,29 @@ const readSpan = async (
             `Artifact changed before read: ${filePath}`,
           );
         if (offset + length > observed.size) return null;
-        const bytes = await readFileHandleRange(handle, offset, length, () => {
-          if (signal?.aborted)
-            throw new AnalysisCancelledError(OPERATION, {
-              cause: signal.reason,
-            });
-        });
+        // Charge bytes as they arrive, so a read that fails after partial
+        // progress still counts what it consumed against the allowance.
+        let charged = 0;
+        const bytes = await readFileHandleRange(
+          handle,
+          offset,
+          length,
+          (bytesRead) => {
+            state.memberBytesRead += bytesRead - charged;
+            charged = bytesRead;
+            if (signal?.aborted)
+              throw new AnalysisCancelledError(OPERATION, {
+                cause: signal.reason,
+              });
+          },
+        );
         const after = await handle.stat();
         if (!sameRegularFileState(initial, after))
           throw new ArtifactReaderFailure(
             "integrity",
             `Artifact changed during read: ${filePath}`,
           );
-        state.memberBytesRead += bytes.length;
+        state.memberBytesRead += bytes.length - charged;
         return Buffer.from(bytes);
       },
     );
diff --git a/src/desktop/HostFileRead.test.ts b/src/desktop/HostFileRead.test.ts
index 040397f819..3752ef2ce9 100644
--- a/src/desktop/HostFileRead.test.ts
+++ b/src/desktop/HostFileRead.test.ts
@@ -32,14 +32,11 @@ describe.skipIf(process.platform === "win32")("probeHostFile", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it("keeps a transient failure unresolved", async () => {
-    // EIO is not a refusal and does not settle the candidate, so the walk still
-    // treats it as a check that may succeed on a retry.
+  it("reports a readable regular file as a file", async () => {
+    // The transient (EIO) branch is covered in HostFileRead.transient.test.ts.
     const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-host-file-probe-");
     const path = join(root, "libcore.so");
     await writeFile(path, "carrier");
-    // A regular file is probeable; this asserts the settled side of the probe
-    // still reports the kind, so the transient branch is not reached by mistake.
     await expect(probeHostFile(path)).resolves.toEqual({
       kind: "file",
       isFile: true,
diff --git a/src/desktop/HostFileRead.transient.test.ts b/src/desktop/HostFileRead.transient.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..40ffaa1225
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/desktop/HostFileRead.transient.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+vi.mock("node:fs/promises", async (importOriginal) => {
+  const fs = await importOriginal<typeof import("node:fs/promises")>();
+  return {
+    ...fs,
+    stat: async (...args: Parameters<typeof fs.stat>) => {
+      if (String(args[0]).endsWith("transient.so"))
+        throw Object.assign(new Error("injected I/O failure"), {
+          code: "EIO",
+        });
+      return fs.stat(...args);
+    },
+  };
+});
+
+import { hostFileKind, probeHostFile } from "./HostFileRead.js";
+
+it("keeps a transient stat failure unresolved rather than absent", async () => {
+  // EIO neither proves absence nor lets ld.so search past the candidate.
+  await expect(probeHostFile("/fixture/lib/transient.so")).resolves.toEqual({
+    kind: "unknown",
+    unreachable: false,
+  });
+  await expect(hostFileKind("/fixture/lib/transient.so")).resolves.toBeNull();
+});