diff --git a/pkg/action/path.go b/pkg/action/path.go
index ec1dcafbd..b5a210441 100644
--- a/pkg/action/path.go
+++ b/pkg/action/path.go
@@ -49,22 +49,7 @@ func findFilesRecursively(ctx context.Context, rootPath string) ([]string, error
 
 			// Ignore symlinked directories like regular directories
 			if info.Type()&fs.ModeSymlink == fs.ModeSymlink {
-				logger.Debugf("attempting to resolve symlink: %s", path)
-				eval, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(path)
-				if err != nil {
-					logger.Debugf("eval: %s: %s", path, err)
-					return nil
-				}
-				fi, err := os.Stat(eval)
-				if err != nil {
-					logger.Debugf("stat: %s: %s", path, err)
-					return nil
-				}
-				if fi.IsDir() {
-					logger.Debugf("ignoring symlinked directory: %s", path)
-					return nil
-				}
-				path = eval
+				return nil
 			}
 
 			files = append(files, path)
diff --git a/pkg/action/scan.go b/pkg/action/scan.go
index b605aa813..e94eac9ca 100644
--- a/pkg/action/scan.go
+++ b/pkg/action/scan.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"io/fs"
 	"log/slog"
 	"os"
@@ -17,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
+	"syscall"
 
 	"github.com/chainguard-dev/clog"
 	"github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/pkg/archive"
@@ -43,13 +43,59 @@ var (
 	ErrMatchedCondition = errors.New("matched exit criteria")
 	// initializeOnce ensures that the file and scanner pools are only initialized once.
 	initializeOnce sync.Once
-	filePool       *pool.BufferPool
 	scannerPool    *pool.ScannerPool
+	maxMmapSize    int64 = 1 << 31
 )
 
+// scanFD scans a file descriptor using memory mapping for efficient large file handling.
+// This avoids loading the entire file into memory while still using yara-x's byte slice scanning.
+func scanFD(scanner *yarax.Scanner, fd uintptr, logger *clog.Logger) ([]byte, *yarax.ScanResults, error) {
+	var stat syscall.Stat_t
+	if err := syscall.Fstat(int(fd), &stat); err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("fstat failed: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	size := stat.Size
+	if size == 0 {
+		mrs, err := scanner.Scan([]byte{})
+		return nil, mrs, err
+	}
+
+	if size < 0 {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid file size: %d", size)
+	}
+
+	if size > maxMmapSize {
+		logger.Warn("file exceeds mmap limit, scanning first portion only",
+			"size", size, "limit", maxMmapSize)
+		size = maxMmapSize
+	}
+
+	data, err := syscall.Mmap(int(fd), 0, int(size), syscall.PROT_READ, syscall.MAP_PRIVATE)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("mmap failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer func() {
+		if unmapErr := syscall.Munmap(data); unmapErr != nil {
+			logger.Error("failed to unmap memory", "error", unmapErr)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	mrs, err := scanner.Scan(data)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Create a copy of the data to return since the mmap will be unmapped
+	// This is necessary because report generation needs access to file content
+	// for checksum calculation and match string extraction
+	fc := make([]byte, len(data))
+	copy(fc, data)
+
+	return fc, mrs, err
+}
+
 // scanSinglePath YARA scans a single path and converts it to a fileReport.
-//
-//nolint:cyclop // ignore complexity of 38
 func scanSinglePath(ctx context.Context, c malcontent.Config, path string, ruleFS []fs.FS, absPath string, archiveRoot string) (*malcontent.FileReport, error) {
 	if ctx.Err() != nil {
 		return &malcontent.FileReport{}, ctx.Err()
@@ -60,7 +106,14 @@ func scanSinglePath(ctx context.Context, c malcontent.Config, path string, ruleF
 
 	isArchive := archiveRoot != ""
 
-	fi, err := os.Stat(path)
+	f, err := os.Open(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	fd := f.Fd()
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	fi, err := f.Stat()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -105,43 +158,13 @@ func scanSinglePath(ctx context.Context, c malcontent.Config, path string, ruleF
 	}
 
 	initializeOnce.Do(func() {
-		filePool = pool.NewBufferPool(c.Concurrency + 1)
-		scannerPool = pool.NewScannerPool(yrs, c.Concurrency+1)
+		scannerPool = pool.NewScannerPool(yrs, c.Concurrency)
 	})
 
 	scanner := scannerPool.Get()
-	if scanner == nil {
-		scanner = yarax.NewScanner(yrs)
-	}
 	defer scannerPool.Put(scanner)
 
-	f, err := os.Open(path)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	defer f.Close()
-
-	fc := filePool.Get(size)
-	defer filePool.Put(fc)
-
-	var bytesRead int
-	var totalRead int64
-	for totalRead < size {
-		bytesRead, err = f.Read(fc[totalRead:])
-		if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-			break
-		}
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		totalRead += int64(bytesRead)
-	}
-
-	if totalRead < size && err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("incomplete read: got %d bytes, expected %d: %w", totalRead, size, err)
-	}
-
-	mrs, err := scanner.Scan(fc)
+	fc, mrs, err := scanFD(scanner, fd, logger)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Debug("skipping", slog.Any("error", err))
 		return nil, err
@@ -164,6 +187,11 @@ func scanSinglePath(ctx context.Context, c malcontent.Config, path string, ruleF
 		return nil, NewFileReportError(err, path, TypeGenerateError)
 	}
 
+	defer func() {
+		fc = nil
+		mrs = nil
+	}()
+
 	// Clean up the path if scanning an archive
 	var clean string
 	if isArchive || c.OCI {
@@ -427,6 +455,12 @@ func processPaths(ctx context.Context, paths []string, scanInfo scanPathInfo, c
 		}
 	}()
 
+	// Zero-out the path strings and empty the slice once read into the path channel
+	defer func() {
+		clear(paths)
+		paths = paths[:0]
+	}()
+
 	for path := range pc {
 		g.Go(func() error {
 			if gCtx.Err() != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/archive/archive.go b/pkg/archive/archive.go
index 683c7fe3f..ac086a470 100644
--- a/pkg/archive/archive.go
+++ b/pkg/archive/archive.go
@@ -146,12 +146,6 @@ func ExtractArchiveToTempDir(ctx context.Context, path string) (string, error) {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to create temp dir: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	go func() {
-		<-ctx.Done()
-		logger.Debug("context cancelled, cleaning up temp dir")
-		os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
-	}()
-
 	initializeOnce.Do(func() {
 		archivePool = pool.NewBufferPool(runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0))
 	})
diff --git a/pkg/pool/pool.go b/pkg/pool/pool.go
index e1caa458a..0f98e36e9 100644
--- a/pkg/pool/pool.go
+++ b/pkg/pool/pool.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package pool
 
 import (
 	"math"
+	"runtime"
 	"sync"
 
 	yarax "github.com/VirusTotal/yara-x/go"
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ func NewBufferPool(count int) *BufferPool {
 
 	bp.pool = sync.Pool{
 		New: func() any {
-			return make([]byte, defaultBuffer)
+			buffer := make([]byte, defaultBuffer)
+			return &buffer
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -43,18 +45,17 @@ func (bp *BufferPool) Get(size int64) []byte {
 
 	bufInterface := bp.pool.Get()
 
-	buf, ok := bufInterface.([]byte)
-	if !ok || buf == nil {
+	bufPtr, ok := bufInterface.(*[]byte)
+	if !ok || bufPtr == nil {
 		return make([]byte, size)
 	}
 
-	bufPtr := &buf
 	if cap(*bufPtr) < int(size) {
 		bp.pool.Put(bufPtr)
 		return make([]byte, size)
 	}
 
-	return buf[:size]
+	return (*bufPtr)[:size]
 }
 
 // Put returns a byte buffer to the pool for future reuse.
@@ -72,34 +73,50 @@ func (bp *BufferPool) Put(buf []byte) {
 
 // ScannerPool provides a pool of yara-x scanners.
 type ScannerPool struct {
-	pool sync.Pool
+	scanners  chan *yarax.Scanner
+	pinner    *runtime.Pinner
+	closeOnce sync.Once
 }
 
 // NewScannerPool creates a pool containing the specified number of yara-x scanners.
 func NewScannerPool(yrs *yarax.Rules, count int) *ScannerPool {
-	sp := &ScannerPool{}
-
-	sp.pool = sync.Pool{
-		New: func() any {
-			return yarax.NewScanner(yrs)
-		},
+	sp := &ScannerPool{
+		scanners: make(chan *yarax.Scanner, count),
+		pinner:   &runtime.Pinner{},
 	}
 
 	for range count {
-		sp.pool.Put(yarax.NewScanner(yrs))
+		scanner := yarax.NewScanner(yrs)
+		// Pin the scanner in memory to prevent GC movement
+		sp.pinner.Pin(scanner)
+		sp.scanners <- scanner
 	}
 	return sp
 }
 
-// Get retrieves a scanner from the scanner pool.
+// Get retrieves a scanner from the scanner pool, blocking if none are available.
 func (sp *ScannerPool) Get() *yarax.Scanner {
-	if scanner, ok := sp.pool.Get().(*yarax.Scanner); ok {
-		return scanner
-	}
-	return nil
+	return <-sp.scanners
 }
 
 // Put returns a scanner to the scanner pool.
 func (sp *ScannerPool) Put(scanner *yarax.Scanner) {
-	sp.pool.Put(scanner)
+	if scanner != nil {
+		select {
+		case sp.scanners <- scanner:
+		default:
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Close destroys all active scanners.
+// Currently unused.
+func (sp *ScannerPool) Close() {
+	sp.closeOnce.Do(func() {
+		sp.pinner.Unpin()
+		close(sp.scanners)
+		for scanner := range sp.scanners {
+			scanner.Destroy()
+		}
+	})
 }
diff --git a/pkg/report/report.go b/pkg/report/report.go
index 3290df6eb..d933edc7f 100644
--- a/pkg/report/report.go
+++ b/pkg/report/report.go
@@ -479,6 +479,7 @@ func Generate(ctx context.Context, path string, mrs *yarax.ScanResults, c malcon
 
 			processor := newMatchProcessor(fc, matches, m.Patterns())
 			matchedStrings = processor.process()
+			processor.clearFileContent()
 		}
 
 		b := &malcontent.Behavior{
diff --git a/pkg/report/strings.go b/pkg/report/strings.go
index a214f9e1e..6f6bd559e 100644
--- a/pkg/report/strings.go
+++ b/pkg/report/strings.go
@@ -19,6 +19,13 @@ type StringPool struct {
 	strings map[string]string
 }
 
+// clear removes all strings from the pool to free memory.
+func (sp *StringPool) clear() {
+	sp.Lock()
+	defer sp.Unlock()
+	clear(sp.strings)
+}
+
 // NewStringPool creates a new string pool.
 func NewStringPool(length int) *StringPool {
 	return &StringPool{
@@ -70,6 +77,12 @@ var matchResultPool = sync.Pool{
 	},
 }
 
+// clearFileContent releases the file content to free memory after processing.
+func (mp *matchProcessor) clearFileContent() {
+	mp.fc = nil
+	mp.pool.clear()
+}
+
 // process performantly handles the conversion of matched data to strings.
 // yara-x does not expose the rendered string via the API due to performance overhead.
 func (mp *matchProcessor) process() []string {
@@ -115,20 +128,24 @@ func (mp *matchProcessor) process() []string {
 			if l <= cap(buffer) {
 				buffer = buffer[:l]
 				copy(buffer, matchBytes)
-				*result = append(*result, mp.pool.Intern(string(buffer)))
+				matchStr := string(buffer)
+				*result = append(*result, mp.pool.Intern(string([]byte(matchStr))))
 			} else {
-				*result = append(*result, mp.pool.Intern(string(matchBytes)))
+				matchStr := string(matchBytes)
+				*result = append(*result, mp.pool.Intern(string([]byte(matchStr))))
 			}
 		} else {
 			if patterns == nil || cap(patterns) < patternsCap {
 				patterns = make([]string, 0, patternsCap)
 			} else {
+				clear(patterns)
 				patterns = patterns[:0]
 			}
 			for _, p := range mp.patterns {
 				patterns = append(patterns, p.Identifier())
 			}
-			*result = append(*result, slices.Compact(patterns)...)
+			compacted := slices.Compact(patterns)
+			*result = append(*result, compacted...)
 		}
 	}