diff --git a/extension/llm/custom_ops/op_sdpa_impl.h b/extension/llm/custom_ops/op_sdpa_impl.h
index ed638d86ff6..df6abb79166 100644
--- a/extension/llm/custom_ops/op_sdpa_impl.h
+++ b/extension/llm/custom_ops/op_sdpa_impl.h
@@ -1349,42 +1349,47 @@ void cpu_sdpa(
           kStrideN,
           scores);
 
-      // Causal mask + scaling + attention mask + softmax per query row
+      // Scaling + causal-limited softmax per query row
       for (int64_t qi = 0; qi < qSize; ++qi) {
         accum_t* row = scores + qi * kvSize;
 
-        // Apply causal mask
-        if (is_causal) {
-          int64_t valid = std::min(start_pos + qi + 1, kvSize);
-          for (int64_t j = valid; j < kvSize; ++j) {
-            row[j] = -std::numeric_limits<accum_t>::infinity();
-          }
-        }
+        int64_t num_valid =
+            is_causal ? std::min(start_pos + qi + 1, kvSize) : kvSize;
 
         accum_t max_val;
-        const int kvSizeInt = static_cast<int>(kvSize);
+        const int num_valid_int = static_cast<int>(num_valid);
         if (has_attn_mask) {
-          // Apply scaling factor and attention mask in fusion
+          // Apply scaling factor and attention mask over valid range
           const accum_t* mask_row = mask_data + qi * mStrideM;
-          for (int64_t j = 0; j < kvSize; ++j) {
+          for (int64_t j = 0; j < num_valid; ++j) {
             row[j] = row[j] * scaling_factor + mask_row[j];
           }
           max_val = vec::reduce_all<accum_t>(
-              [](Vec& x, Vec& y) { return vec::maximum(x, y); }, row, kvSize);
+              [](Vec& x, Vec& y) { return vec::maximum(x, y); },
+              row,
+              num_valid);
         } else {
-          // Apply scaling factor and find max in fusion
+          // Apply scaling factor and find max over valid range
           _mul_reduce_max_fusion_kernel(
-              row, scaling_factor, kvSizeInt, row, max_val);
+              row, scaling_factor, num_valid_int, row, max_val);
         }
 
         if (max_val == -std::numeric_limits<accum_t>::infinity()) {
           fill_stub(row, static_cast<accum_t>(0), kvSize);
         } else {
           accum_t sum_val = max_val;
-          _exp_reduce_sum_fusion_kernel(row, kvSizeInt, row, sum_val);
+          _exp_reduce_sum_fusion_kernel(row, num_valid_int, row, sum_val);
           accum_t inv_sum = static_cast<accum_t>(1) / sum_val;
           vec::map<accum_t>(
-              [inv_sum](Vec x) { return x * Vec(inv_sum); }, row, row, kvSize);
+              [inv_sum](Vec x) { return x * Vec(inv_sum); },
+              row,
+              row,
+              num_valid);
+          // Zero out masked positions for GEMM 2
+          if (num_valid < kvSize) {
+            fill_stub(
+                row + num_valid, static_cast<accum_t>(0), kvSize - num_valid);
+          }
         }
       }