diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_image_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_image_test.go
index be7911cb83f..4e0221a09f9 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_image_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kuberuntime/kuberuntime_image_test.go
@@ -136,6 +136,37 @@ func TestGetImageRef(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, image, imageRef)
 }
 
+// TestGetImageRefReturnsImageIdNotRepoDigest verifies that GetImageRef returns
+// Image.Id instead of RepoDigests to ensure content-based deduplication.
+// This prevents the same image pulled from different registries from being
+// treated as different images in pull record lookups.
+func TestGetImageRefReturnsImageIdNotRepoDigest(t *testing.T) {
+	tCtx := ktesting.Init(t)
+	_, fakeImageService, fakeManager, err := createTestRuntimeManager(tCtx)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	// Simulate an image with both Id and RepoDigests set
+	// In a real scenario, the same image content pulled from different registries
+	// would have the same Id but different RepoDigests
+	imageID := "sha256:abcd1234"
+	repoDigest1 := "registry1.io/myimage@sha256:abcd1234"
+	repoDigest2 := "registry2.io/myimage@sha256:abcd1234"
+
+	fakeImageService.Lock()
+	fakeImageService.Images["myimage"] = &runtimeapi.Image{
+		Id:          imageID,
+		RepoDigests: []string{repoDigest1, repoDigest2},
+		RepoTags:    []string{"myimage:latest"},
+		Size:        1000,
+	}
+	fakeImageService.Unlock()
+
+	// GetImageRef should return the content-based Image.Id, not the location-based RepoDigest
+	imageRef, err := fakeManager.GetImageRef(tCtx, kubecontainer.ImageSpec{Image: "myimage"})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, imageID, imageRef, "GetImageRef should return Image.Id for content-based deduplication")
+}
+
 func TestImageSize(t *testing.T) {
 	tCtx := ktesting.Init(t)
 	_, fakeImageService, fakeManager, err := createTestRuntimeManager(tCtx)