diff --git a/sentry/api/sentry.api b/sentry/api/sentry.api
index 43de4164a4..43a6796092 100644
--- a/sentry/api/sentry.api
+++ b/sentry/api/sentry.api
@@ -7706,6 +7706,7 @@ public final class io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtils {
 	public fun <init> ()V
 	public static fun findRootCause (Ljava/lang/Throwable;)Ljava/lang/Throwable;
 	public static fun isIgnored (Ljava/util/Set;Ljava/lang/Throwable;)Z
+	public static fun rethrowIfFatal (Ljava/lang/Throwable;)V
 }
 
 public final class io/sentry/util/FileUtils {
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtils.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtils.java
index 9d6033a96c..329bc84ba8 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtils.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtils.java
@@ -29,4 +29,34 @@ public static boolean isIgnored(
       final @NotNull Throwable throwable) {
     return ignoredExceptionsForType.contains(throwable.getClass());
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Rethrows non-recoverable {@link Throwable}s that should never be swallowed: {@link
+   * VirtualMachineError} (e.g. OutOfMemoryError/StackOverflowError), {@link ThreadDeath} and {@link
+   * LinkageError} are rethrown as-is. For {@link InterruptedException}, the thread's interrupted
+   * status is restored instead of rethrowing, since it is a checked exception. All other throwables
+   * are left untouched for the caller to handle/log/ignore as before.
+   *
+   * <p>Note on {@link LinkageError}: its subclasses (e.g. {@link NoClassDefFoundError}, {@link
+   * NoSuchMethodError}, {@link AbstractMethodError}, {@link UnsatisfiedLinkError}) are also the
+   * expected runtime signal for a missing or version-mismatched optional dependency, which is a
+   * normal condition for integrations built against {@code compileOnly} dependencies. Call sites
+   * that probe for such a dependency must catch the relevant {@link LinkageError} subclass locally
+   * <em>before</em> delegating to this method — see {@code SentrySQLiteDriver.hasConnectionPool}
+   * and {@link LoadClass} for examples.
+   *
+   * @param throwable - the throwable to check
+   */
+  public static void rethrowIfFatal(final @NotNull Throwable throwable) {
+    // VirtualMachineError covers OutOfMemoryError, StackOverflowError, InternalError, and
+    // UnknownError
+    if (throwable instanceof VirtualMachineError
+        || throwable instanceof ThreadDeath
+        || throwable instanceof LinkageError) {
+      throw (Error) throwable;
+    }
+    if (throwable instanceof InterruptedException) {
+      Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtilsTest.kt b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtilsTest.kt
index 7517c24349..13f2cffc14 100644
--- a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtilsTest.kt
+++ b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/ExceptionUtilsTest.kt
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 package io.sentry.util
 
+import com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat
 import java.lang.RuntimeException
 import kotlin.test.Test
 import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import kotlin.test.assertFails
+import kotlin.test.assertFailsWith
+import kotlin.test.assertFalse
+import kotlin.test.assertTrue
 
 class ExceptionUtilsTest {
   @Test
@@ -18,4 +23,57 @@ class ExceptionUtilsTest {
     val ex = RuntimeException(cause)
     assertEquals(rootCause, ExceptionUtils.findRootCause(ex))
   }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows OutOfMemoryError`() {
+    assertFails { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(OutOfMemoryError()) }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows StackOverflowError`() {
+    assertFails { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(StackOverflowError()) }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows ThreadDeath`() {
+    assertFails { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(ThreadDeath()) }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows NoClassDefFoundError as-is`() {
+    val error = NoClassDefFoundError()
+    val thrown = assertFailsWith<NoClassDefFoundError> { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(error) }
+    assertThat(thrown).isSameInstanceAs(error)
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows NoSuchMethodError as-is`() {
+    val error = NoSuchMethodError()
+    val thrown = assertFailsWith<NoSuchMethodError> { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(error) }
+    assertThat(thrown).isSameInstanceAs(error)
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal rethrows UnsatisfiedLinkError as-is`() {
+    val error = UnsatisfiedLinkError()
+    val thrown = assertFailsWith<UnsatisfiedLinkError> { ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(error) }
+    assertThat(thrown).isSameInstanceAs(error)
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal restores interrupt flag for InterruptedException without rethrowing`() {
+    try {
+      ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(InterruptedException())
+      assertTrue(Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted)
+    } finally {
+      // clear the interrupt flag so it doesn't leak into other tests
+      Thread.interrupted()
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `rethrowIfFatal does nothing for regular exceptions`() {
+    ExceptionUtils.rethrowIfFatal(RuntimeException())
+    assertFalse(Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted)
+  }
 }