diff --git a/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala b/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
index 9389a13e292f8..db24bd21ea5ef 100644
--- a/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackend.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ package org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster
 import java.io.InterruptedIOException
 
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
+import scala.util.control.NonFatal
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.{FinalApplicationStatus, YarnApplicationState}
 
@@ -135,6 +136,15 @@ private[spark] class YarnClientSchedulerBackend(
       } catch {
         case _: InterruptedException | _: InterruptedIOException =>
           logInfo("Interrupting monitor thread")
+        case NonFatal(e) =>
+          logError(log"Unexpected error in YARN application state monitor thread.", e)
+          allowInterrupt = false
+          sc.stop()
+          if (conf.get(AM_CLIENT_MODE_EXIT_ON_ERROR)) {
+            logWarning(log"SparkContext stopped due to unexpected error, " +
+              log"exiting with code 1.")
+            System.exit(1)
+          }
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackendSuite.scala b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackendSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..da231bd2d7078
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resource-managers/yarn/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/scheduler/cluster/YarnClientSchedulerBackendSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.spark.scheduler.cluster
+
+import java.util.concurrent.{CountDownLatch, TimeUnit}
+
+import org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.{anyBoolean, anyLong}
+import org.mockito.Mockito.{mock, when}
+
+import org.apache.spark._
+import org.apache.spark.deploy.yarn.Client
+import org.apache.spark.scheduler.{SparkListener, SparkListenerApplicationEnd, TaskSchedulerImpl}
+
+class YarnClientSchedulerBackendSuite extends SparkFunSuite with LocalSparkContext {
+
+  test("SPARK-57191: MonitorThread calls sc.stop() on unexpected exception") {
+    val stopCalled = new CountDownLatch(1)
+    sc = new SparkContext("local", "test", new SparkConf().set("spark.testing", "true"))
+    sc.addSparkListener(new SparkListener {
+      override def onApplicationEnd(e: SparkListenerApplicationEnd): Unit =
+        stopCalled.countDown()
+    })
+
+    val backend = new YarnClientSchedulerBackend(
+      sc.taskScheduler.asInstanceOf[TaskSchedulerImpl], sc)
+
+    // Simulate MonitorThread hitting an unexpected non-fatal error
+    // (e.g., credential expiry, network failure)
+    val mockClient = mock(classOf[Client])
+    when(mockClient.monitorApplication(anyBoolean(), anyBoolean(), anyLong()))
+      .thenThrow(new RuntimeException("Simulated failure"))
+
+    // Use reflection since client/appId are private and MonitorThread is an inner class
+    val clientField = backend.getClass.getDeclaredFields.find(_.getName.endsWith("client")).get
+    clientField.setAccessible(true)
+    clientField.set(backend, mockClient)
+
+    val appIdField = classOf[YarnSchedulerBackend].getDeclaredField("appId")
+    appIdField.setAccessible(true)
+    appIdField.set(backend,
+      Some(org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.ApplicationId.newInstance(0L, 1)))
+
+    val monitorMethod = backend.getClass.getDeclaredMethod("asyncMonitorApplication")
+    monitorMethod.setAccessible(true)
+    val monitorThread = monitorMethod.invoke(backend).asInstanceOf[Thread]
+
+    // Assign to backend.monitorThread so the full shutdown path is exercised:
+    // sc.stop() -> YarnClientSchedulerBackend.stop() -> monitorThread.stopMonitor()
+    val monitorField = backend.getClass.getDeclaredFields
+      .find(_.getName.endsWith("monitorThread")).get
+    monitorField.setAccessible(true)
+    monitorField.set(backend, monitorThread)
+
+    monitorThread.start()
+
+    assert(stopCalled.await(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS),
+      "sc.stop() was not called after MonitorThread hit an unexpected exception")
+  }
+}