diff --git a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.rst b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.rst
index e8f04a6ac7b95d..897f102740e421 100644
--- a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.shared_memory.rst
@@ -311,34 +311,9 @@ finishes execution.
    existing :class:`!ShareableList`, specify its shared memory block's unique
    name while leaving *sequence* set to ``None``.
 
-   .. note::
-
-      A known issue exists for :class:`bytes` and :class:`str` values.
-      If they end with ``\x00`` nul bytes or characters, those may be
-      *silently stripped* when fetching them by index from the
-      :class:`!ShareableList`. This ``.rstrip(b'\x00')`` behavior is
-      considered a bug and may go away in the future. See :gh:`106939`.
-
-   For applications where rstripping of trailing nulls is a problem,
-   work around it by always unconditionally appending an extra non-0
-   byte to the end of such values when storing and unconditionally
-   removing it when fetching:
-
-   .. doctest::
-
-       >>> from multiprocessing import shared_memory
-       >>> nul_bug_demo = shared_memory.ShareableList(['?\x00', b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00'])
-       >>> nul_bug_demo[0]
-       '?'
-       >>> nul_bug_demo[1]
-       b'\x03\x02\x01'
-       >>> nul_bug_demo.shm.unlink()
-       >>> padded = shared_memory.ShareableList(['?\x00\x07', b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00\x07'])
-       >>> padded[0][:-1]
-       '?\x00'
-       >>> padded[1][:-1]
-       b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00'
-       >>> padded.shm.unlink()
+   .. versionchanged:: next
+      Trailing null bytes are preserved for :class:`bytes` and :class:`str`
+      values now. Previously they were stripped silently. See :gh:`106939`.
 
    .. method:: count(value)
 
diff --git a/Lib/multiprocessing/shared_memory.py b/Lib/multiprocessing/shared_memory.py
index 99a8ce3320ad4e..3022f69a0ddb47 100644
--- a/Lib/multiprocessing/shared_memory.py
+++ b/Lib/multiprocessing/shared_memory.py
@@ -286,8 +286,8 @@ class ShareableList:
     _alignment = 8
     _back_transforms_mapping = {
         0: lambda value: value,                   # int, float, bool
-        1: lambda value: value.rstrip(b'\x00').decode(_encoding),  # str
-        2: lambda value: value.rstrip(b'\x00'),   # bytes
+        1: lambda value: value.decode(_encoding), # str
+        2: lambda value: value,                   # bytes
         3: lambda _value: None,                   # None
     }
 
@@ -326,6 +326,15 @@ def __init__(self, sequence=None, *, name=None):
             for fmt in _formats:
                 offset += self._alignment if fmt[-1] != "s" else int(fmt[:-1])
                 self._allocated_offsets.append(offset)
+            _stored_formats = []
+            for item, fmt in zip(sequence, _formats):
+                if isinstance(item, (str, bytes)):
+                    encoded = (item.encode(_encoding)
+                               if isinstance(item, str) else item)
+                    _stored_formats.append("%ds" % len(encoded))
+                else:
+                    _stored_formats.append(fmt)
+
             _recreation_codes = [
                 self._extract_recreation_code(item) for item in sequence
             ]
@@ -359,7 +368,7 @@ def __init__(self, sequence=None, *, name=None):
                 self._format_packing_metainfo,
                 self.shm.buf,
                 self._offset_packing_formats,
-                *(v.encode(_enc) for v in _formats)
+                *(v.encode(_enc) for v in _stored_formats)
             )
             struct.pack_into(
                 self._format_back_transform_codes,
@@ -459,6 +468,7 @@ def __setitem__(self, position, value):
 
         if not isinstance(value, (str, bytes)):
             new_format = self._types_mapping[type(value)]
+            pack_format = new_format
             encoded_value = value
         else:
             allocated_length = self._allocated_offsets[position + 1] - item_offset
@@ -467,19 +477,17 @@ def __setitem__(self, position, value):
                              if isinstance(value, str) else value)
             if len(encoded_value) > allocated_length:
                 raise ValueError("bytes/str item exceeds available storage")
-            if current_format[-1] == "s":
-                new_format = current_format
-            else:
-                new_format = self._types_mapping[str] % (
-                    allocated_length,
-                )
+            # Allocated-length format.
+            pack_format = "%ds" % allocated_length
+            # Actual-length format.
+            new_format = "%ds" % len(encoded_value)
 
         self._set_packing_format_and_transform(
             position,
             new_format,
             value
         )
-        struct.pack_into(new_format, self.shm.buf, offset, encoded_value)
+        struct.pack_into(pack_format, self.shm.buf, offset, encoded_value)
 
     def __reduce__(self):
         return partial(self.__class__, name=self.shm.name), ()
diff --git a/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py b/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py
index cc07062eee6f98..2c892a4f53a728 100644
--- a/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py
+++ b/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py
@@ -4757,7 +4757,7 @@ def test_shared_memory_ShareableList_basics(self):
         self.assertEqual(current_format, sl._get_packing_format(0))
 
         # Verify attributes are readable.
-        self.assertEqual(sl.format, '8s8sdqxxxxxx?xxxxxxxx?q')
+        self.assertEqual(sl.format, '5s5sdqxxxxxx?xxxxxxxx?q')
 
         # Exercise len().
         self.assertEqual(len(sl), 7)
@@ -4785,7 +4785,7 @@ def test_shared_memory_ShareableList_basics(self):
         self.assertEqual(sl[3], 42)
         sl[4] = 'some'  # Change type at a given position.
         self.assertEqual(sl[4], 'some')
-        self.assertEqual(sl.format, '8s8sdq8sxxxxxxx?q')
+        self.assertEqual(sl.format, '5s5sdq4sxxxxxxx?q')
         with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError,
                                     "exceeds available storage"):
             sl[4] = 'far too many'
@@ -4887,6 +4887,34 @@ def test_shared_memory_ShareableList_pickling_dead_object(self):
                 with self.assertRaises(FileNotFoundError):
                     pickle.loads(serialized_sl)
 
+    def test_shared_memory_ShareableList_trailing_nulls(self):
+        # gh-106939: ShareableList should preserve trailing null bytes
+        # in bytes and str values.
+        sl = shared_memory.ShareableList([
+            b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00',
+            '?\x00',
+            b'\x00\x00\x00',
+            b'',
+            b'no nulls',
+        ])
+        self.addCleanup(sl.shm.unlink)
+        self.addCleanup(sl.shm.close)
+
+        self.assertEqual(sl[0], b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl[1], '?\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl[2], b'\x00\x00\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl[3], b'')
+        self.assertEqual(sl[4], b'no nulls')
+
+        sl2 = shared_memory.ShareableList(name=sl.shm.name)
+        self.addCleanup(sl2.shm.close)
+        self.assertEqual(sl2[0], b'\x03\x02\x01\x00\x00\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl2[1], '?\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl2[2], b'\x00\x00\x00')
+        self.assertEqual(sl2[3], b'')
+        self.assertEqual(sl2[4], b'no nulls')
+
+
     def test_shared_memory_cleaned_after_process_termination(self):
         cmd = '''if 1:
             import os, time, sys
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-07-19-10-10.gh-issue-106939.BFpL0T.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-07-19-10-10.gh-issue-106939.BFpL0T.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e1674cdfc0340d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-02-07-19-10-10.gh-issue-106939.BFpL0T.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+:class:`~multiprocessing.shared_memory.ShareableList` keeps the trailing
+null bytes for :class:`bytes` and :class:`str` values. Previously they were
+stripped silently.