diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index 7280810d2a2..e2c646c6121 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -221,6 +221,14 @@ Other
 ---------------------
 (No changes)
 
+======================= Lucene 8.6.2 =======================
+
+Bug Fixes
+---------------------
+* LUCENE-9478: Prevent DWPTDeleteQueue from referencing itself and leaking memory. The queue
+  passed an implicit this reference to the next queue instance on flush which leaked about 500byte
+  of memory on each full flush, commit or getReader call. (Simon Willnauer)
+
 ======================= Lucene 8.6.1 =======================
 
 Bug Fixes
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
index 92e7be7d359..cb3db7a0ff7 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
@@ -573,6 +573,12 @@ final class DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue implements Accountable, Closeable {
     }
   }
 
+  // we use a static method to get this lambda since we previously introduced a memory leak since it would
+  // implicitly reference this.nextSeqNo which holds on to this del queue. see LUCENE-9478 for reference
+  private static LongSupplier getPrevMaxSeqIdSupplier(AtomicLong nextSeqNo) {
+    return () -> nextSeqNo.get() - 1;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Advances the queue to the next queue on flush. This carries over the the generation to the next queue and
    * set the {@link #getMaxSeqNo()} based on the given maxNumPendingOps. This method can only be called once, subsequently
@@ -593,7 +599,7 @@ final class DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue implements Accountable, Closeable {
     return new DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue(infoStream, generation + 1, seqNo + 1,
         // don't pass ::getMaxCompletedSeqNo here b/c otherwise we keep an reference to this queue
         // and this will be a memory leak since the queues can't be GCed
-        () -> nextSeqNo.get() - 1);
+        getPrevMaxSeqIdSupplier(nextSeqNo));
 
   }
 
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestDocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestDocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
index 8a1f30cae9a..41909bc2af4 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestDocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestDocumentsWriterDeleteQueue.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.lucene.index;
 
+import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
@@ -36,6 +37,26 @@ import org.apache.lucene.util.ThreadInterruptedException;
  */
 public class TestDocumentsWriterDeleteQueue extends LuceneTestCase {
 
+
+  public void testAdvanceReferencesOriginal() {
+    WeakAndNext weakAndNext = new WeakAndNext();
+    DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue next = weakAndNext.next;
+    assertNotNull(next);
+    System.gc();
+    assertNull(weakAndNext.weak.get());
+  }
+  class WeakAndNext {
+    final WeakReference<DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue> weak;
+    final DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue next;
+
+    WeakAndNext() {
+      DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue deleteQueue = new DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue(null);
+      weak = new WeakReference<>(deleteQueue);
+      next = deleteQueue.advanceQueue(2);
+    }
+  }
+
+
   public void testUpdateDelteSlices() throws Exception {
     DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue queue = new DocumentsWriterDeleteQueue(null);
     final int size = 200 + random().nextInt(500) * RANDOM_MULTIPLIER;