diff --git a/internal/redaction/redaction.go b/internal/redaction/redaction.go
index e65312821..de208e9a7 100644
--- a/internal/redaction/redaction.go
+++ b/internal/redaction/redaction.go
@@ -96,6 +96,69 @@ var textSecretPatterns = []*regexp.Regexp{
 	regexp.MustCompile(`\beyJ[A-Za-z0-9_-]{10,}\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]{10,}\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]{10,}`),
 }
 
+// anchoredSecretPatterns mirrors textSecretPatterns with the leading \b
+// replaced by \A, so each shape can be tested at an exact byte offset. A
+// credential that starts exactly where a redacted span ends (two AWS keys
+// glued end to end, e.g. AKIA...AKIA...) has no word boundary on its left,
+// so the plain pattern misses it; the anchored variant catches it.
+var anchoredSecretPatterns = func() []*regexp.Regexp {
+	out := make([]*regexp.Regexp, len(textSecretPatterns))
+	for i, p := range textSecretPatterns {
+		src := p.String()
+		if strings.HasPrefix(src, `\b`) {
+			src = `\A(?:` + src[len(`\b`):] + `)`
+		}
+		out[i] = regexp.MustCompile(src)
+	}
+	return out
+}()
+
+// redactAdjacent redacts every match of pattern, plus any match of anchored
+// that begins exactly where a redacted span ends. This catches credentials
+// glued end to end (AKIA...AKIA...) without weakening the leading-boundary
+// rule elsewhere: a mid-word occurrence that does not abut a redacted span
+// still does not match. Chained runs (three or more glued credentials) are
+// followed to the end.
+func redactAdjacent(s string, pattern, anchored *regexp.Regexp, replacement string) string {
+	spans := pattern.FindAllStringIndex(s, -1)
+	// Bound the outer loop to the original match count. The inner loop
+	// appends chained spans to the same slice; re-reading len(spans) would
+	// re-chain every appended span, growing the span count (and the
+	// FindStringIndex calls) exponentially on long glued runs.
+	n := len(spans)
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+		end := spans[i][1]
+		for end < len(s) {
+			loc := anchored.FindStringIndex(s[end:])
+			if loc == nil || loc[0] != 0 || loc[1] <= 0 {
+				break
+			}
+			newEnd := end + loc[1]
+			spans = append(spans, []int{end, newEnd})
+			end = newEnd
+		}
+	}
+	if len(spans) == 0 {
+		return s
+	}
+	sort.Slice(spans, func(i, j int) bool { return spans[i][0] < spans[j][0] })
+	var out strings.Builder
+	pos := 0
+	for _, sp := range spans {
+		if sp[0] < pos {
+			continue // overlapping span, already covered
+		}
+		out.WriteString(s[pos:sp[0]])
+		// s[sp[0]:sp[1]] is a match (anchored spans match at \b when taken
+		// alone), so ReplaceAllString expands $ references exactly as the
+		// plain loop below would.
+		out.WriteString(pattern.ReplaceAllString(s[sp[0]:sp[1]], replacement))
+		pos = sp[1]
+	}
+	out.WriteString(s[pos:])
+	return out.String()
+}
+
 var (
 	privateKeyPattern = regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)-----BEGIN [A-Z ]*PRIVATE KEY-----.*?-----END [A-Z ]*PRIVATE KEY-----`)
 	jsonStringPattern = regexp.MustCompile(`("([^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*)"\s*:\s*)"([^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*)"`)
@@ -233,8 +296,8 @@ func RedactString(value string, options Options) string {
 		}
 		return replacement
 	})
-	for _, pattern := range textSecretPatterns {
-		redacted = pattern.ReplaceAllString(redacted, replacement)
+	for i, pattern := range textSecretPatterns {
+		redacted = redactAdjacent(redacted, pattern, anchoredSecretPatterns[i], replacement)
 	}
 	return redacted
 }
diff --git a/internal/redaction/redaction_test.go b/internal/redaction/redaction_test.go
index 3ae228c8d..b2bb6238c 100644
--- a/internal/redaction/redaction_test.go
+++ b/internal/redaction/redaction_test.go
@@ -4,8 +4,32 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 )
 
+func TestRedactStringRedactsAdjacentAWSKeys(t *testing.T) {
+	// Two AWS keys glued end to end have no word boundary between them, so a
+	// plain \b-anchored pattern only matches the first. Both must be redacted.
+	// gitleaks:allow -- synthetic redaction fixtures below
+	key1 := "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
+	key2 := "ASIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"
+	input := key1 + key2
+	if got := RedactString(input, Options{}); got != RedactedSecret+RedactedSecret {
+		t.Fatalf("adjacent AWS keys not both redacted: got %q", got)
+	}
+
+	// Three glued keys chain as well.
+	input3 := key1 + key2 + key1
+	if got := RedactString(input3, Options{}); got != RedactedSecret+RedactedSecret+RedactedSecret {
+		t.Fatalf("three adjacent AWS keys not all redacted: got %q", got)
+	}
+
+	// A mid-word AKIA that does not abut a redacted span still must not match.
+	if got := RedactString("prefixAKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", Options{}); got != "prefixAKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE" {
+		t.Fatalf("mid-word AKIA should not be redacted: got %q", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRedactStringCoversCommonSecretShapes(t *testing.T) {
 	input := strings.Join([]string{
 		`{"apiKey":"sk-proj-abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"}`,
@@ -141,3 +165,23 @@ func containsCircular(v any) bool {
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+func TestRedactStringLongAdjacentKeyRunCompletesPromptly(t *testing.T) {
+	// A long run of glued AWS keys must not blow up the span-chaining loop in
+	// redactAdjacent: the outer loop is bounded to the original match count,
+	// so appended spans are never re-chained. On the old code this input
+	// grows the span list exponentially and never finishes.
+	// The key is assembled at runtime so the literal never appears in source.
+	// gitleaks:allow -- synthetic redaction fixture below
+	key := "AKIA" + strings.Repeat("A", 16)
+	const count = 64
+	input := strings.Repeat(key, count)
+	start := time.Now()
+	got := RedactString(input, Options{})
+	if elapsed := time.Since(start); elapsed > 5*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("RedactString took %v on %d glued keys", elapsed, count)
+	}
+	if want := strings.Repeat(RedactedSecret, count); got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %d redaction markers, got %d", count, strings.Count(got, RedactedSecret))
+	}
+}