What is SQL Server indirect memory pressure and stolen memory behavior?

Indirect memory pressure occurs when SQL Server redistributes memory from caches to active workloads.

SQL Server dynamically reallocates memory across subsystems. Stolen memory refers to buffer pool memory temporarily taken for query execution (hash joins, sorts). Under pressure, SQL Server reduces cache sizes and grants memory to active queries. This balancing act ensures fairness but can degrade performance if misestimated, especially under concurrent workloads with large memory grants.