diff --git a/apps/wolfsshd/test/run_all_sshd_tests.sh b/apps/wolfsshd/test/run_all_sshd_tests.sh
index e9fa66a92..d20acb406 100755
--- a/apps/wolfsshd/test/run_all_sshd_tests.sh
+++ b/apps/wolfsshd/test/run_all_sshd_tests.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ test_cases=(
  "sshd_term_size_test.sh"
  "sshd_large_sftp_test.sh"
  "sshd_bad_sftp_test.sh"
+ "sshd_sftp_idle_cpu_test.sh"
  "sshd_scp_fail.sh"
  "sshd_term_close_test.sh"
  "ssh_kex_algos.sh"
diff --git a/apps/wolfsshd/test/sshd_sftp_idle_cpu_test.sh b/apps/wolfsshd/test/sshd_sftp_idle_cpu_test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..722c24a4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/wolfsshd/test/sshd_sftp_idle_cpu_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# An idle SFTP session must not keep the server busy. wolfSSHd's SFTP loop
+# polls at the select() floor whenever wolfSSH_stream_peek() reports an empty
+# channel, so before the timeout was raised on that path a connected client
+# that simply sat there cost most of a core for as long as it stayed open.
+
+ROOT_PWD=$(pwd)
+. ./wolfssh_options.sh
+cd ../../..
+
+TEST_SFTP_CLIENT="./examples/sftpclient/wolfsftp"
+PRIVATE_KEY="./keys/hansel-key-ecc.der"
+PUBLIC_KEY="./keys/hansel-key-ecc.pub"
+
+SAMPLE_SECONDS=10
+# Ticks of CPU the connection process may use while idle.
+# The poll this guards against measured 16 per 10 seconds; a server that
+# waits properly measures 0.
+MAX_TICKS=5
+
+FIFO="/tmp/wolfssh_idle_stdin_$$"
+HOLDER=""
+CLIENT=""
+
+cleanup() {
+    [ -n "$CLIENT" ] && kill "$CLIENT" 2>/dev/null
+    [ -n "$HOLDER" ] && kill "$HOLDER" 2>/dev/null
+    rm -f "$FIFO"
+}
+
+# tear down on every exit path, including an interrupt during the ten second
+# measurement, so no FIFO or client is left behind
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+if [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ] || [ -z "$3" ]; then
+    echo "expecting host, port and user as arguments"
+    echo "$0 127.0.0.1 22222 $USER"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! wolfssh_has SFTP || [ ! -x "$TEST_SFTP_CLIENT" ]; then
+    echo "SFTP client not available in this build, skipping"
+    exit 77
+fi
+
+# The measurement reads the server's CPU time out of /proc, so it only works
+# against a local daemon on a system that has one.
+if [ ! -r /proc/self/stat ]; then
+    echo "no /proc on this system, skipping"
+    exit 77
+fi
+
+PIDS_BEFORE=$(pgrep wolfsshd | sort)
+if [ -z "$PIDS_BEFORE" ]; then
+    echo "no local wolfsshd to measure, skipping"
+    exit 77
+fi
+
+# Hold a session open without sending a single request. The client takes its
+# commands from this pipe, and nothing ever writes one; the sleep bounds how
+# long the pipe stays open so no part of this outlives the test.
+mkfifo "$FIFO" || exit 1
+sleep $((SAMPLE_SECONDS + 30)) > "$FIFO" &
+HOLDER=$!
+"$TEST_SFTP_CLIENT" -u "$3" -i "$PRIVATE_KEY" -j "$PUBLIC_KEY" \
+    -h "$1" -p "$2" < "$FIFO" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+CLIENT=$!
+sleep 5
+
+PIDS_AFTER=$(pgrep wolfsshd | sort)
+CHILD=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$PIDS_BEFORE" "$PIDS_AFTER" | sort | uniq -u | head -1)
+if [ -z "$CHILD" ] || [ ! -r "/proc/$CHILD/stat" ]; then
+    echo "Expecting another wolfSSHd pid after connection"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Fields 14 and 15 of /proc/<pid>/stat are utime and stime, in clock ticks.
+BEFORE=$(awk '{print $14+$15}' "/proc/$CHILD/stat")
+sleep "$SAMPLE_SECONDS"
+if [ ! -r "/proc/$CHILD/stat" ]; then
+    echo "Connection process $CHILD exited while idle"
+    exit 1
+fi
+AFTER=$(awk '{print $14+$15}' "/proc/$CHILD/stat")
+USED=$((AFTER-BEFORE))
+
+echo "idle connection used $USED ticks over $SAMPLE_SECONDS seconds"
+if [ "$USED" -ge "$MAX_TICKS" ]; then
+    echo "Expecting an idle SFTP session to cost under $MAX_TICKS ticks"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cd "$ROOT_PWD"
+exit 0
diff --git a/apps/wolfsshd/wolfsshd.c b/apps/wolfsshd/wolfsshd.c
index d86ac426f..4f9555d30 100644
--- a/apps/wolfsshd/wolfsshd.c
+++ b/apps/wolfsshd/wolfsshd.c
@@ -967,6 +967,12 @@ static int SFTP_Subsystem(WOLFSSHD_CONNECTION* conn, WOLFSSH* ssh,
                 if (error == WS_EOF)
                     break;
             }
+            else {
+                /* Channel is live with nothing buffered. Let the next select
+                 * block instead of polling at its 100 us floor. */
+                timeout = TEST_SFTP_TIMEOUT;
+                continue;
+            }
 
             if (ret == WS_FATAL_ERROR && error == 0) {
                 WOLFSSH_CHANNEL* channel =