diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_common.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_common.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fc069466c2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_common.go
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+// or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+
+package upgrade
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+)
+
+func writeMarkerFileCommon(markerFile string, markerBytes []byte, shouldFsync bool) error {
+	f, err := os.OpenFile(markerFile, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0600)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to open upgrade marker file for writing: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	if _, err := f.Write(markerBytes); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write upgrade marker file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	if !shouldFsync {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if err := f.Sync(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to sync upgrade marker file to disk: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_other.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_other.go
index ed854160e94..fbcfeae5726 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_other.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_other.go
@@ -25,6 +25,6 @@ func readMarkerFile(markerFile string) ([]byte, error) {
 
 // On non-Windows platforms, writeMarkerFile simply writes the marker file.
 // See marker_access_windows.go for behavior on Windows platforms.
-func writeMarkerFile(markerFile string, markerBytes []byte) error {
-	return os.WriteFile(markerFilePath(), markerBytes, 0600)
+func writeMarkerFile(markerFile string, markerBytes []byte, shouldFsync bool) error {
+	return writeMarkerFileCommon(markerFile, markerBytes, shouldFsync)
 }
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_test.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3f1ff637eaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+// or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+
+package upgrade
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestWriteMarkerFile(t *testing.T) {
+	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
+	markerFile := filepath.Join(tmpDir, markerFilename)
+
+	markerBytes := []byte("foo bar")
+	err := writeMarkerFile(markerFile, markerBytes, true)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(markerFile)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, markerBytes, data)
+}
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_windows.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_windows.go
index 673a57eeabf..cb37f9c0e88 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_windows.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/marker_access_windows.go
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ func readMarkerFile(markerFile string) ([]byte, error) {
 // mechanism is necessary since the marker file could be accessed by multiple
 // processes (the Upgrade Watcher and the main Agent process) at the same time,
 // which could fail on Windows.
-func writeMarkerFile(markerFile string, markerBytes []byte) error {
+func writeMarkerFile(markerFile string, markerBytes []byte, shouldFsync bool) error {
 	writeFn := func() error {
-		return os.WriteFile(markerFile, markerBytes, 0600)
+		return writeMarkerFileCommon(markerFile, markerBytes, shouldFsync)
 	}
 
 	if err := accessMarkerFileWithRetries(writeFn); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/step_mark.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/step_mark.go
index b5743582317..bca67d307f0 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/step_mark.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/step_mark.go
@@ -194,7 +194,10 @@ func loadMarker(markerFile string) (*UpdateMarker, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func SaveMarker(marker *UpdateMarker) error {
+// SaveMarker serializes and persists the given upgrade marker to disk.
+// For critical upgrade transitions, pass shouldFsync as true so the marker
+// file is immediately flushed to persistent storage.
+func SaveMarker(marker *UpdateMarker, shouldFsync bool) error {
 	makerSerializer := &updateMarkerSerializer{
 		Hash:        marker.Hash,
 		UpdatedOn:   marker.UpdatedOn,
@@ -209,7 +212,7 @@ func SaveMarker(marker *UpdateMarker) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	return writeMarkerFile(markerFilePath(), markerBytes)
+	return writeMarkerFile(markerFilePath(), markerBytes, shouldFsync)
 }
 
 func markerFilePath() string {
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/upgrade.go b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/upgrade.go
index 0873a0d4d69..b299dd3fd75 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/upgrade.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/application/upgrade/upgrade.go
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ func (u *Upgrader) Ack(ctx context.Context, acker acker.Acker) error {
 
 	marker.Acked = true
 
-	return SaveMarker(marker)
+	return SaveMarker(marker, false)
 }
 
 func (u *Upgrader) MarkerWatcher() MarkerWatcher {
diff --git a/internal/pkg/agent/cmd/watch.go b/internal/pkg/agent/cmd/watch.go
index b3d5727175c..a895e10df5a 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/agent/cmd/watch.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/agent/cmd/watch.go
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ func watchCmd(log *logp.Logger, cfg *configuration.Configuration) error {
 		}
 
 		marker.Details.SetState(details.StateRollback)
-		err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker)
+		err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker, true)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Errorf("unable to save upgrade marker before attempting to rollback: %s", err.Error())
 		}
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ func watchCmd(log *logp.Logger, cfg *configuration.Configuration) error {
 			log.Error("rollback failed", err)
 
 			marker.Details.Fail(err)
-			err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker)
+			err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker, true)
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Errorf("unable to save upgrade marker after rollback failed: %s", err.Error())
 			}
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func watchCmd(log *logp.Logger, cfg *configuration.Configuration) error {
 
 	// watch succeeded - upgrade was successful!
 	marker.Details.SetState(details.StateCompleted)
-	err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker)
+	err = upgrade.SaveMarker(marker, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Errorf("unable to save upgrade marker after successful watch: %s", err.Error())
 	}