diff --git a/.github/workflows/dev-release.yml b/.github/workflows/dev-release.yml
index 875a9cb6..afb7b699 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dev-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dev-release.yml
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ jobs:
 
           COMMIT_TEXT=$(git log $RANGE --pretty=format:"%s%n%b" 2>/dev/null || true)
           ISSUES_FROM_COMMITS=$(printf '%s\n' "$COMMIT_TEXT" | \
-            perl -ne 'if (/(fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)(.*)/i) { print "$2\n"; }' | \
+            perl -ne 'while (/\b(?:fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)\s+((?:#[0-9]+\b(?:\s*(?:,|and)?\s*#[0-9]+\b)*))/ig) { print "$1\n"; }' | \
             grep -oE '#[0-9]+' || true)
 
           PR_CANDIDATES=$(printf '%s\n' "$COMMIT_TEXT" | \
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ jobs:
           done
 
           ISSUES_FROM_PRS=$(printf '%s\n' "$PR_TEXT" | \
-            perl -ne 'if (/(fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)(.*)/i) { print "$2\n"; }' | \
+            perl -ne 'while (/\b(?:fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)\s+((?:#[0-9]+\b(?:\s*(?:,|and)?\s*#[0-9]+\b)*))/ig) { print "$1\n"; }' | \
             grep -oE '#[0-9]+' || true)
 
           ISSUES=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$ISSUES_FROM_COMMITS" "$ISSUES_FROM_PRS" | \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/label-pending-release.yml b/.github/workflows/label-pending-release.yml
index 7452f85d..3b10a329 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/label-pending-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/label-pending-release.yml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
             $PR_BODY
             $COMMIT_TEXT"
             PR_ISSUES=$(printf '%s\n' "$PR_TEXT" | \
-              perl -ne 'if (/(fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)(.*)/i) { print "$2\n"; }' | \
+              perl -ne 'while (/\b(?:fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)\s+((?:#[0-9]+\b(?:\s*(?:,|and)?\s*#[0-9]+\b)*))/ig) { print "$1\n"; }' | \
               grep -oE '#[0-9]+' || true)
             if [[ -n "$PR_ISSUES" ]]; then
               ALL_REFERENCED_ISSUES=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$ALL_REFERENCED_ISSUES" "$PR_ISSUES")
diff --git a/scripts/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup-lib.mjs b/scripts/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup-lib.mjs
index 64d7057d..959b2e35 100644
--- a/scripts/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup-lib.mjs
+++ b/scripts/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup-lib.mjs
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
 
 const ISSUE_REF_PATTERN = /#([0-9]+)/g;
-const ACTION_VERB_PATTERN = /\b(fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)\b(.*)/gi;
-const RESOLVE_VERB_PATTERN = /\b(fixes|closes|resolves)\b(.*)/gi;
+const ACTION_VERB_PATTERN =
+  /\b(?:fixes|closes|resolves|refs?)\b\s+(#\d+\b(?:\s*(?:,|and)?\s*#\d+\b)*)/gi;
+const RESOLVE_VERB_PATTERN =
+  /\b(?:fixes|closes|resolves)\b\s+(#\d+\b(?:\s*(?:,|and)?\s*#\d+\b)*)/gi;
 const PR_REF_PATTERN = /(?:Merge pull request #|\(#)([0-9]+)/g;
 const STABLE_TAG_PATTERN = /^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$/;
 
@@ -14,7 +16,7 @@ export function extractIssueNumbers(text, { includeRefs = true } = {}) {
 
   pattern.lastIndex = 0;
   while ((actionMatch = pattern.exec(text || '')) !== null) {
-    const tail = actionMatch[2] || '';
+    const tail = actionMatch[1] || '';
     let issueMatch;
     ISSUE_REF_PATTERN.lastIndex = 0;
     while ((issueMatch = ISSUE_REF_PATTERN.exec(tail)) !== null) {
diff --git a/tests/unit/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup.test.mjs b/tests/unit/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup.test.mjs
index 81cc4f35..de97747d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/unit/github/stable-release-issue-cleanup.test.mjs
@@ -18,6 +18,18 @@ describe('stable release issue cleanup', () => {
     expect(extractIssueNumbers(text, { includeRefs: false })).toEqual([1340, 1341]);
   });
 
+  it('ignores unrelated issue references after the action reference sequence', () => {
+    const text = [
+      'fix: guard release parser',
+      '',
+      'Fixes #12; see #99 for the follow-up',
+      'Resolves #13, #14 and #15; related to #100',
+    ].join('\n');
+
+    expect(extractIssueNumbers(text, { includeRefs: true })).toEqual([12, 13, 14, 15]);
+    expect(extractIssueNumbers(text, { includeRefs: false })).toEqual([12, 13, 14, 15]);
+  });
+
   it('extracts PR numbers from merge and squash commit subjects', () => {
     const text = [
       'Merge pull request #1392 from kaitranntt/kai/fix/foo',