diff --git a/Lib/test/pickletester.py b/Lib/test/pickletester.py
index 9c0679d1d13d23..a75bfef0a69a5a 100644
--- a/Lib/test/pickletester.py
+++ b/Lib/test/pickletester.py
@@ -5182,6 +5182,26 @@ def loads(data, **kwargs):
 
         self.check_dumps_loads_oob_buffers(dumps, loads)
 
+    def test_load_large_from_file_without_readinto(self):
+        # gh-158841: large data is read by chunks of increasing size.
+        class BytesSubclass(bytes):
+            pass
+
+        obj = 'B' * (3 << 20)
+        for proto in range(1, pickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL + 1):
+            with self.subTest(proto=proto):
+                data = self.dumps(obj, proto)
+                self.assertEqual(self.load(MinimalIO(data)), obj)
+
+                f = MinimalIO(data)
+                f.read = lambda n, read=f.read: BytesSubclass(read(n))
+                self.assertEqual(self.load(f), obj)
+
+                f = MinimalIO(data)
+                f.read = lambda n, read=f.read: read(n // 2 if n > 1000 else n)
+                with self.assertRaises((pickle.UnpicklingError, EOFError)):
+                    self.load(f)
+
 
 class AbstractPersistentPicklerTests:
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-22-12-00-00.gh-issue-158841.Rd7KcH.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-22-12-00-00.gh-issue-158841.Rd7KcH.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3168d207c5cc95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-10-22-12-00-00.gh-issue-158841.Rd7KcH.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Fix a crash and reading of uninitialized memory in :func:`pickle.load` and
+:class:`pickle.Unpickler` when reading a large amount of data from a file
+object without the ``readinto()`` method,
+if its ``read()`` method returns an instance of a :class:`bytes` subclass
+or less data than requested.
diff --git a/Modules/_pickle.c b/Modules/_pickle.c
index f37c0a5bba5541..0a27097030e42b 100644
--- a/Modules/_pickle.c
+++ b/Modules/_pickle.c
@@ -1445,27 +1445,41 @@ _Unpickler_ReadFromFile(PickleState *state, UnpicklerObject *self, Py_ssize_t n)
                     return n;
             }
         }
-        Py_ssize_t cursize = Py_MIN(n, MIN_READ_BUF_SIZE);
-        len = PyLong_FromSsize_t(cursize);
-        if (len == NULL)
-            return -1;
-        data = _Pickle_FastCall(self->read, len);
-        if (data == NULL) {
-            return -1;
-        }
-        while (cursize < n) {
-            Py_ssize_t prevsize = cursize;
-            // geometrically double the chunk size to avoid CPU DoS
-            cursize += Py_MIN(cursize, n - cursize);
-            if (_PyBytes_Resize(&data, cursize) < 0) {
+        if (n <= MIN_READ_BUF_SIZE) {
+            len = PyLong_FromSsize_t(n);
+            if (len == NULL)
+                return -1;
+            data = _Pickle_FastCall(self->read, len);
+            if (data == NULL) {
                 return -1;
             }
-            if (_Unpickler_ReadIntoFromFile(state, self,
-                    PyBytes_AS_STRING(data) + prevsize, cursize - prevsize) < 0)
-            {
-                Py_DECREF(data);
+        }
+        else {
+            // Read by chunks of increasing size to avoid memory DoS:
+            // do not preallocate memory for data which may be truncated.
+            Py_ssize_t cursize = MIN_READ_BUF_SIZE;
+            Py_ssize_t prevsize = 0;
+            data = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, cursize);
+            if (data == NULL) {
                 return -1;
             }
+            while (1) {
+                if (_Unpickler_ReadIntoFromFile(state, self,
+                        PyBytes_AS_STRING(data) + prevsize,
+                        cursize - prevsize) < 0)
+                {
+                    Py_DECREF(data);
+                    return -1;
+                }
+                if (cursize >= n) {
+                    break;
+                }
+                prevsize = cursize;
+                cursize += Py_MIN(cursize, n - cursize);
+                if (_PyBytes_Resize(&data, cursize) < 0) {
+                    return -1;
+                }
+            }
         }
     }