diff --git a/internal/consistency/diff/table_diff.go b/internal/consistency/diff/table_diff.go
index 02ff81f..e838860 100644
--- a/internal/consistency/diff/table_diff.go
+++ b/internal/consistency/diff/table_diff.go
@@ -110,8 +110,9 @@ type TableDiffTask struct {
 	DiffResult types.DiffOutput
 	diffMutex  sync.Mutex
 
-	firstError   error
-	firstErrorMu sync.Mutex
+	firstError      error
+	firstErrorMu    sync.Mutex
+	errorRecorded   atomic.Bool
 
 	totalDiffRows      atomic.Int64
 	diffLimitTriggered atomic.Bool
@@ -149,6 +150,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recordError(err error) {
 		t.firstError = err
 	}
 	t.firstErrorMu.Unlock()
+	t.errorRecorded.Store(true)
 }
 
 func (t *TableDiffTask) getFirstError() error {
@@ -157,6 +159,19 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) getFirstError() error {
 	return t.firstError
 }
 
+func (t *TableDiffTask) hasError() bool {
+	return t.errorRecorded.Load()
+}
+
+// shouldStop returns true if diff workers should cease processing, either because
+// the diff row limit was reached or because a node error has been recorded (circuit
+// breaker). This prevents OOM when a node starts failing: without this check,
+// goroutines would keep grinding through every remaining sub-range — each waiting
+// up to 60 s for a timeout — accumulating error objects until the process is killed.
+func (t *TableDiffTask) shouldStop() bool {
+	return t.shouldStopDueToLimit() || t.hasError()
+}
+
 func (t *TableDiffTask) shouldStopDueToLimit() bool {
 	if t.MaxDiffRows <= 0 {
 		return false
@@ -1163,6 +1178,10 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) ExecuteTask() (err error) {
 
 	t.totalDiffRows.Store(0)
 	t.diffLimitTriggered.Store(false)
+	t.errorRecorded.Store(false)
+	t.firstErrorMu.Lock()
+	t.firstError = nil
+	t.firstErrorMu.Unlock()
 
 	var recorder *taskstore.Recorder
 
@@ -1493,6 +1512,10 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) ExecuteTask() (err error) {
 		go func() {
 			defer initialHashWg.Done()
 			for task := range hashTaskQueue {
+				if t.shouldStop() {
+					bar.Increment()
+					continue
+				}
 				sem <- struct{}{}
 				queryCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(t.Ctx, 60*time.Second)
 				hashValue, hErr := t.hashRange(queryCtx, task.nodeName, task.r)
@@ -1581,7 +1604,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) ExecuteTask() (err error) {
 		)
 
 		for _, task := range mismatchedTasks {
-			if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+			if t.shouldStop() {
 				diffBar.Increment()
 				continue
 			}
@@ -1905,7 +1928,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 ) {
 	defer wg.Done()
 
-	if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+	if t.shouldStop() {
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -1957,7 +1980,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 			}
 
 			for _, row := range diffInfo.Node1OnlyRows {
-				if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+				if t.shouldStop() {
 					limitReached = true
 					break
 				}
@@ -1974,7 +1997,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 
 			if !limitReached {
 				for _, row := range diffInfo.Node2OnlyRows {
-					if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+					if t.shouldStop() {
 						limitReached = true
 						break
 					}
@@ -1992,7 +2015,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 
 			if !limitReached {
 				for _, modRow := range diffInfo.ModifiedRows {
-					if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+					if t.shouldStop() {
 						limitReached = true
 						break
 					}
@@ -2019,14 +2042,14 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 			t.DiffResult.Summary.DiffRowsCount[pairKey] += currentDiffRowsForPair
 			t.diffMutex.Unlock()
 
-			if limitReached || t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+			if limitReached || t.shouldStop() {
 				return
 			}
 		}
 		return
 	}
 
-	if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+	if t.shouldStop() {
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -2065,7 +2088,7 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 	}
 
 	for _, sr := range subRanges {
-		if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+		if t.shouldStop() {
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -2096,20 +2119,20 @@ func (t *TableDiffTask) recursiveDiff(
 			errWrap := fmt.Errorf("hashing sub-range %v-%v for %s: %w", sr.Start, sr.End, node1Name, res1.err)
 			t.recordError(errWrap)
 			logger.Info("ERROR hashing sub-range %v-%v for %s: %v", sr.Start, sr.End, node1Name, errWrap)
-			continue
+			return
 		}
 		if res2.err != nil {
 			errWrap := fmt.Errorf("hashing sub-range %v-%v for %s: %w", sr.Start, sr.End, node2Name, res2.err)
 			t.recordError(errWrap)
 			logger.Info("ERROR hashing sub-range %v-%v for %s: %v", sr.Start, sr.End, node2Name, errWrap)
-			continue
+			return
 		}
 
 		if res1.hash != res2.hash {
 			logger.Debug("%s Mismatch in sub-range %v-%v for %s (%s...) vs %s (%s...). Recursing.",
 				utils.CrossMark, sr.Start, sr.End, node1Name, utils.SafeCut(res1.hash, 8), node2Name, utils.SafeCut(res2.hash, 8))
 
-			if t.shouldStopDueToLimit() {
+			if t.shouldStop() {
 				return
 			}