diff --git a/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/main/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClient.java b/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/main/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClient.java
index 14a954bd7..ed68a192a 100644
--- a/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/main/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClient.java
+++ b/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/main/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClient.java
@@ -564,9 +564,26 @@ private void refreshMutPipelines(Map<String, KVRangeStoreDescriptor> storeDescri
             }
         }
         mutPplns = nextMutPplns;
-        // clear mut pipelines targeting non-exist storeId;
-        for (String storeId : Sets.difference(currentMutPplns.keySet(), nextMutPplns.keySet())) {
-            currentMutPplns.get(storeId).values().forEach(IMutationPipeline::close);
+        closeDroppedMutationPipelines(currentMutPplns, nextMutPplns);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Close every mutation pipeline that this refresh drops - either because its range is no longer
+     * led by that store (leadership transfer/merge) or because the whole store disappeared. Assigning
+     * mutPplns without closing the dropped pipelines leaked each of them (RX subscription + a dedicated
+     * gRPC bidi stream + a server-side MutatePipeline) on every leadership transfer, and they are
+     * unreachable from {@link #close()} once dropped.
+     */
+    static void closeDroppedMutationPipelines(Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> current,
+                                              Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> next) {
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> safeNext = next == null ? emptyMap() : next;
+        for (Map.Entry<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> byStore : current.entrySet()) {
+            Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline> nextRanges = safeNext.getOrDefault(byStore.getKey(), emptyMap());
+            for (Map.Entry<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline> byRange : byStore.getValue().entrySet()) {
+                if (nextRanges.get(byRange.getKey()) != byRange.getValue()) {
+                    byRange.getValue().close();
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/test/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClientPipelineRefreshTest.java b/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/test/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClientPipelineRefreshTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8b5f59915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base-kv/base-kv-store-client/src/test/java/org/apache/bifromq/basekv/client/BaseKVStoreClientPipelineRefreshTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.bifromq.basekv.client;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.apache.bifromq.basekv.proto.KVRangeId;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+/**
+ * Regression: mutation pipelines dropped by a route refresh must be closed, not silently leaked.
+ */
+public class BaseKVStoreClientPipelineRefreshTest {
+
+    private static KVRangeId rangeId(long id) {
+        return KVRangeId.newBuilder().setEpoch(id).setId(id).build();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void closesPipelineWhenRangeLeadershipMovesAway() {
+        IMutationPipeline kept = mock(IMutationPipeline.class);
+        IMutationPipeline dropped = mock(IMutationPipeline.class);
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> current = Map.of(
+            "storeA", Map.of(rangeId(1), kept, rangeId(2), dropped));
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> next = Map.of(
+            "storeA", Map.of(rangeId(1), kept));
+
+        BaseKVStoreClient.closeDroppedMutationPipelines(current, next);
+
+        verify(dropped).close();
+        verify(kept, never()).close();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void closesPipelinesWhenStoreDisappears() {
+        IMutationPipeline ppln = mock(IMutationPipeline.class);
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> current = Map.of("storeB", Map.of(rangeId(3), ppln));
+
+        BaseKVStoreClient.closeDroppedMutationPipelines(current, Map.of());
+
+        verify(ppln).close();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void closesReplacedPipelineInstance() {
+        IMutationPipeline oldPpln = mock(IMutationPipeline.class);
+        IMutationPipeline newPpln = mock(IMutationPipeline.class);
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> current = Map.of("storeA", Map.of(rangeId(1), oldPpln));
+        Map<String, Map<KVRangeId, IMutationPipeline>> next = Map.of("storeA", Map.of(rangeId(1), newPpln));
+
+        BaseKVStoreClient.closeDroppedMutationPipelines(current, next);
+
+        verify(oldPpln).close();
+        verify(newPpln, never()).close();
+    }
+}