diff --git a/internal/cache/cache.go b/internal/cache/cache.go
index bb5288efcf9..9d607404bb2 100644
--- a/internal/cache/cache.go
+++ b/internal/cache/cache.go
@@ -271,6 +271,28 @@ func (c *Handle) Get(
 	return c.cache.getShard(k).get(k, level, category, false /* peekOnly */)
 }
 
+// TableFilterMayContain looks up a cached filter block and checks if it may contain the
+// given key, while holding the cache's read lock. This avoids the refcount
+// overhead of Get/Release for the common case of bloom filter checks.
+//
+// TableFilterMayContain does not update hit counters.
+//
+// The dataOffset specifies how many bytes to skip at the start of the cached
+// buffer (typically block.MetadataSize to skip block metadata).
+//
+// Returns (true, mayContain) if found; (false, false) if not in cache.
+// When not found, the caller should fall back to reading from disk.
+func (c *Handle) TableFilterMayContain(
+	fileNum base.DiskFileNum,
+	offset uint64,
+	dataOffset int,
+	filter base.TableFilterDecoder,
+	filterKey []byte,
+) (found bool, mayContain bool) {
+	k := makeKey(c.id, fileNum, offset)
+	return c.cache.getShard(k).tableFilterMayContain(k, dataOffset, filter, filterKey)
+}
+
 // GetWithReadHandle retrieves the cache value for the specified handleID, fileNum
 // and offset. If found, a valid Handle is returned (with cacheHit set to
 // true), else a valid ReadHandle is returned.
diff --git a/internal/cache/clockpro.go b/internal/cache/clockpro.go
index dfda772a9f6..8bb46e54d38 100644
--- a/internal/cache/clockpro.go
+++ b/internal/cache/clockpro.go
@@ -184,6 +184,34 @@ func (c *shard) getWithReadEntry(k key, level base.Level, category Category) (*V
 	return nil, re
 }
 
+// tableFilterMayContain looks up a cache entry and checks if the filter may
+// contain the given key, while holding the read lock. This avoids refcount
+// overhead for bloom filter checks.
+//
+// The dataOffset specifies how many bytes to skip at the start of the cached
+// buffer (to skip block metadata).
+//
+// tableFilterMayContain does not update hit counters.
+//
+// Returns (true, mayContain) if found; (false, false) otherwise.
+func (c *shard) tableFilterMayContain(
+	k key, dataOffset int, filter base.TableFilterDecoder, filterKey []byte,
+) (found bool, mayContain bool) {
+	c.mu.RLock()
+	defer c.mu.RUnlock()
+
+	if e, _ := c.blocks.Get(k); e != nil {
+		if v := e.val; v != nil && len(v.buf) > dataOffset {
+			// Update referenced flag for CLOCK-Pro (same as regular get).
+			if !e.referenced.Load() {
+				e.referenced.Store(true)
+			}
+			return true, filter.MayContain(v.buf[dataOffset:], filterKey)
+		}
+	}
+	return false, false
+}
+
 func (c *shard) set(k key, value *Value, markAccessed bool) {
 	c.mu.Lock()
 	defer c.mu.Unlock()
diff --git a/sstable/block/block.go b/sstable/block/block.go
index 4664e360681..38d30dcffd9 100644
--- a/sstable/block/block.go
+++ b/sstable/block/block.go
@@ -375,6 +375,11 @@ func (r *Reader) ChecksumType() ChecksumType {
 	return r.checksumType
 }
 
+// CacheHandle returns the cache Handle, or nil if caching is disabled.
+func (r *Reader) CacheHandle() *cache.Handle {
+	return r.opts.CacheOpts.CacheHandle
+}
+
 var kindToCacheCategory = [blockkind.NumKinds]cache.Category{
 	blockkind.Unknown:                         cache.CategoryBackground,
 	blockkind.SSTableData:                     cache.CategorySSTableData,
diff --git a/sstable/filter.go b/sstable/filter.go
index c330253dcae..2a66a3a80bd 100644
--- a/sstable/filter.go
+++ b/sstable/filter.go
@@ -65,3 +65,8 @@ func (f *tableFilterReader) mayContain(data, key []byte) bool {
 	}
 	return mayContain
 }
+
+// Decoder returns the underlying filter decoder.
+func (f *tableFilterReader) Decoder() base.TableFilterDecoder {
+	return f.decoder
+}
diff --git a/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go b/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
index 8bf415ce9dd..5ce7952c503 100644
--- a/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
+++ b/sstable/reader_iter_single_lvl.go
@@ -1027,6 +1027,21 @@ func (i *singleLevelIterator[I, PI, D, PD]) bloomFilterMayContain(prefix []byte)
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Fast path: check directly in cache without refcount overhead.
+	if cacheHandle := i.reader.blockReader.CacheHandle(); cacheHandle != nil {
+		found, mayContain := cacheHandle.TableFilterMayContain(
+			i.reader.blockReader.FileNum(),
+			i.reader.filterBH.Offset,
+			block.MetadataSize,
+			i.reader.tableFilter.Decoder(),
+			prefixToCheck,
+		)
+		if found {
+			return mayContain, nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Slow path: read filter block from disk.
 	dataH, err := i.reader.readFilterBlock(i.ctx, i.readEnv.Block, i.indexFilterRH, i.reader.filterBH)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err