diff --git a/include/pybind11/stl.h b/include/pybind11/stl.h
index 0790074534..b73d0e95b2 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/stl.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/stl.h
@@ -401,22 +401,27 @@ struct array_caster {
 private:
     std::unique_ptr<ArrayType> value;
 
+    // Both `convert_elements` overloads index `l` up to a size that is determined only once,
+    // rather than iterating over `l`: the accesses stay in bounds even if the length of `l`
+    // changes underneath (e.g. if another thread resizes a list in a free-threaded build).
+
     template <bool R = Resizable, enable_if_t<R, int> = 0>
     bool convert_elements(handle seq, bool convert) {
         auto l = reinterpret_borrow<sequence>(seq);
+        const size_t size = l.size();
         value.reset(new ArrayType{});
         // Using `resize` to preserve the behavior exactly as it was before PR #5305
         // For the `resize` to work, `Value` must be default constructible.
         // For `std::valarray`, this is a requirement:
         // https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/named_req/NumericType
-        value->resize(l.size());
-        size_t ctr = 0;
-        for (const auto &it : l) {
-            value_conv conv;
-            if (!conv.load(it, convert)) {
+        value->resize(size);
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+            value_conv conv;          // Constructed before the item is fetched.
+            const object item = l[i]; // Keeps the item alive while `conv` is in use.
+            if (!conv.load(item, convert)) {
                 return false;
             }
-            (*value)[ctr++] = cast_op<Value &&>(std::move(conv));
+            (*value)[i] = cast_op<Value &&>(std::move(conv));
         }
         return true;
     }
@@ -424,7 +429,8 @@ struct array_caster {
     template <bool R = Resizable, enable_if_t<!R, int> = 0>
     bool convert_elements(handle seq, bool convert) {
         auto l = reinterpret_borrow<sequence>(seq);
-        if (l.size() != Size) {
+        const size_t size = l.size();
+        if (size != Size) {
             return false;
         }
         // The `temp` storage is needed to support `Value` types that are not
@@ -433,10 +439,11 @@ struct array_caster {
         // because the compile time overhead for the specializations is deemed
         // more significant than the runtime overhead for the `temp` storage.
         std::vector<Value> temp;
-        temp.reserve(l.size());
-        for (auto it : l) {
-            value_conv conv;
-            if (!conv.load(it, convert)) {
+        temp.reserve(size);
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+            value_conv conv;          // Constructed before the item is fetched.
+            const object item = l[i]; // Keeps the item alive while `conv` is in use.
+            if (!conv.load(item, convert)) {
                 return false;
             }
             temp.emplace_back(cast_op<Value &&>(std::move(conv)));
diff --git a/tests/test_stl.cpp b/tests/test_stl.cpp
index b5d1979d04..9306b20670 100644
--- a/tests/test_stl.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_stl.cpp
@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ TEST_SUBMODULE(stl, m) {
     m.def("load_valarray", [](const std::valarray<int> &v) {
         return v.size() == 3 && v[0] == 1 && v[1] == 4 && v[2] == 9;
     });
+    m.def("valarray_cast_sequence", [](std::valarray<int> x) { return x; });
 
     // test_map
     m.def("cast_map", []() { return std::map<std::string, std::string>{{"key", "value"}}; });
diff --git a/tests/test_stl.py b/tests/test_stl.py
index 32ee539f50..7c1f76daa6 100644
--- a/tests/test_stl.py
+++ b/tests/test_stl.py
@@ -585,6 +585,42 @@ def test_array_cast_sequence():
     assert m.array_cast_sequence((1, 2, 3)) == [1, 2, 3]
 
 
+class SequenceWithChangingLen:
+    """Reports `lens[0]` when first asked for its length, `lens[1]` after that."""
+
+    def __init__(self, items, lens):
+        self.items = items
+        self.lens = list(lens)
+        self.indices = []
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return self.lens.pop(0) if len(self.lens) > 1 else self.lens[0]
+
+    def __getitem__(self, index):
+        self.indices.append(index)
+        return self.items[index]
+
+
+ARRAY_CASTER_LOADS = [m.array_cast_sequence, m.valarray_cast_sequence]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("load", ARRAY_CASTER_LOADS)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("len_change", [-1, 1])
+def test_array_caster_len_changes(load, len_change):
+    """The length is determined only once, which rules out out-of-bounds accesses."""
+    seq = SequenceWithChangingLen(list(range(4)), [3, 3 + len_change])
+    assert load(seq) == [0, 1, 2]
+    assert seq.indices == [0, 1, 2]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("load", ARRAY_CASTER_LOADS)
+def test_array_caster_len_exceeds_items(load):
+    seq = SequenceWithChangingLen([0, 1], [3])
+    with pytest.raises(IndexError):
+        load(seq)
+    assert seq.indices == [0, 1, 2]
+
+
 def test_issue_1561():
     """check fix for issue #1561"""
     bar = m.Issue1561Outer()