diff --git a/src/gpu/ganesh/GrDrawingManager.cpp b/src/gpu/ganesh/GrDrawingManager.cpp
index 28a50ae4626..aebe063d27b 100644
--- a/src/gpu/ganesh/GrDrawingManager.cpp
+++ b/src/gpu/ganesh/GrDrawingManager.cpp
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ bool GrDrawingManager::flush(SkSpan<GrSurfaceProxy*> proxies,
     }
 
     bool cachePurgeNeeded = false;
+    bool renderTasksDropped = !preFlushSuccessful;
 
     if (preFlushSuccessful) {
         bool usingReorderedDAG = false;
@@ -205,7 +206,8 @@ bool GrDrawingManager::flush(SkSpan<GrSurfaceProxy*> proxies,
             resourceAllocator.assign();
         }
 
-        cachePurgeNeeded = !resourceAllocator.failedInstantiation() &&
+        renderTasksDropped = resourceAllocator.failedInstantiation();
+        cachePurgeNeeded = !renderTasksDropped &&
                            this->executeRenderTasks(&flushState);
     }
     this->removeRenderTasks();
@@ -226,7 +228,11 @@ bool GrDrawingManager::flush(SkSpan<GrSurfaceProxy*> proxies,
     }
     fFlushing = false;
 
-    return true;
+    // Propagate that queued work was discarded so callers (e.g.
+    // SurfaceContext::readPixels) do not assume targets contain
+    // freshly-rendered data when in fact a recycled scratch resource was
+    // never overwritten.
+    return !renderTasksDropped;
 }
 
 bool GrDrawingManager::submitToGpu() {
diff --git a/src/gpu/ganesh/SurfaceContext.cpp b/src/gpu/ganesh/SurfaceContext.cpp
index 1afa768d241..fdde04c22e9 100644
--- a/src/gpu/ganesh/SurfaceContext.cpp
+++ b/src/gpu/ganesh/SurfaceContext.cpp
@@ -216,6 +216,15 @@ bool SurfaceContext::readPixels(GrDirectContext* dContext, GrPixmap dst, SkIPoin
             sfc->fillRectToRectWithFP(SkIRect::MakePtSize(pt, dst.dimensions()),
                                       SkIRect::MakeSize(dst.dimensions()),
                                       std::move(fp));
+            // The kApprox temp surface may be backed by a recycled scratch
+            // texture that still holds a prior occupant's pixels. Flush now
+            // and verify the fill above was actually executed; if
+            // GrDrawingManager::flush() dropped render tasks (preFlush /
+            // instantiation failure) we must not read back stale contents.
+            if (dContext->priv().flushSurface(sfc->asSurfaceProxy()) ==
+                GrSemaphoresSubmitted::kNo) {
+                return false;
+            }
             pt = {0, 0};
             tempCtx = std::move(sfc);
         } else {