diff --git a/src/wp-includes/functions.php b/src/wp-includes/functions.php
index 9cdeef75788f2..58bde6ac21a3c 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -2184,7 +2184,23 @@ function path_join( $base, $path ) {
  * @return string Normalized path.
  */
 function wp_normalize_path( $path ) {
-	$wrapper = '';
+	$path = (string) $path;
+
+	static $hot  = array();
+	static $warm = array();
+	static $max  = 100;
+
+	if ( isset( $hot[ $path ] ) ) {
+		return $hot[ $path ];
+	}
+
+	if ( isset( $warm[ $path ] ) ) {
+		$hot[ $path ] = $warm[ $path ];
+		return $hot[ $path ];
+	}
+
+	$original_path = $path;
+	$wrapper       = '';
 
 	if ( wp_is_stream( $path ) ) {
 		list( $wrapper, $path ) = explode( '://', $path, 2 );
@@ -2203,7 +2219,17 @@ function wp_normalize_path( $path ) {
 		$path = ucfirst( $path );
 	}
 
-	return $wrapper . $path;
+	$value = $wrapper . $path;
+
+	$hot[ $original_path ] = $value;
+
+	// Rotate segments when hot is full.
+	if ( count( $hot ) > $max ) {
+		$warm = $hot;
+		$hot  = array();
+	}
+
+	return $value;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/functions.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/functions.php
index ccbe24385e14e..f0cce6e44d057 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/functions.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/functions.php
@@ -222,9 +222,50 @@ public function data_wp_normalize_path() {
 			array( 'php://input', 'php://input' ),
 			array( 'http://example.com//path.ext', 'http://example.com/path.ext' ),
 			array( 'file://c:\\www\\path\\', 'file://C:/www/path/' ),
+
+			// Edge cases.
+			array( '', '' ), // Empty string should return empty string.
+			array( 123, '123' ), // Integer should be cast to string.
 		);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Tests that wp_normalize_path() works with objects that have __toString().
+	 *
+	 * This is important because the function uses a static cache, and the input
+	 * must be cast to string before being used as an array key.
+	 *
+	 * @ticket 33265
+	 */
+	public function test_wp_normalize_path_with_stringable_object() {
+		$stringable = new class() {
+			public function __toString() {
+				return '/var/www/html\\test';
+			}
+		};
+
+		$this->assertSame( '/var/www/html/test', wp_normalize_path( $stringable ) );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Tests that wp_normalize_path() returns consistent results on repeated calls.
+	 *
+	 * The function uses a static cache, so this verifies cache behavior.
+	 *
+	 * @ticket 33265
+	 */
+	public function test_wp_normalize_path_returns_consistent_results() {
+		$path = 'C:\\www\\path\\';
+
+		$first_call  = wp_normalize_path( $path );
+		$second_call = wp_normalize_path( $path );
+		$third_call  = wp_normalize_path( $path );
+
+		$this->assertSame( $first_call, $second_call, 'Second call should return same result as first.' );
+		$this->assertSame( $second_call, $third_call, 'Third call should return same result as second.' );
+		$this->assertSame( 'C:/www/path/', $first_call, 'Normalized path should match expected value.' );
+	}
+
 	public function test_wp_unique_filename() {
 
 		$testdir = DIR_TESTDATA . '/images/';