diff --git a/vault/eventbus/bus.go b/vault/eventbus/bus.go
index 60db2c939b4b..cf789ef26d9d 100644
--- a/vault/eventbus/bus.go
+++ b/vault/eventbus/bus.go
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/armon/go-metrics"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/eventlogger"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/eventlogger/formatter_filters/cloudevents"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-hclog"
@@ -17,9 +19,13 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/timestamppb"
 )
 
-var ErrNotStarted = errors.New("event broker has not been started")
+const defaultTimeout = 60 * time.Second
 
-var cloudEventsFormatterFilter *cloudevents.FormatterFilter
+var (
+	ErrNotStarted              = errors.New("event broker has not been started")
+	cloudEventsFormatterFilter *cloudevents.FormatterFilter
+	subscriptions              atomic.Int64 // keeps track of event subscription count in all event buses
+)
 
 // EventBus contains the main logic of running an event broker for Vault.
 // Start() must be called before the EventBus will accept events for sending.
@@ -28,6 +34,7 @@ type EventBus struct {
 	broker          *eventlogger.Broker
 	started         atomic.Bool
 	formatterNodeID eventlogger.NodeID
+	timeout         time.Duration
 }
 
 type pluginEventBus struct {
@@ -42,6 +49,13 @@ type asyncChanNode struct {
 	ch        chan *logical.EventReceived
 	namespace *namespace.Namespace
 	logger    hclog.Logger
+
+	// used to close the connection
+	closeOnce  sync.Once
+	cancelFunc context.CancelFunc
+	pipelineID eventlogger.PipelineID
+	eventType  eventlogger.EventType
+	broker     *eventlogger.Broker
 }
 
 var (
@@ -79,6 +93,10 @@ func (bus *EventBus) SendInternal(ctx context.Context, ns *namespace.Namespace,
 		Timestamp:  timestamppb.New(time.Now()),
 	}
 	bus.logger.Info("Sending event", "event", eventReceived)
+
+	// We can't easily know when the Send is complete, so we can't call the cancel function.
+	// But, it is called automatically after bus.timeout, so there won't be any leak as long as bus.timeout is not too long.
+	ctx, _ = context.WithTimeout(ctx, bus.timeout)
 	_, err := bus.broker.Send(ctx, eventlogger.EventType(eventType), eventReceived)
 	if err != nil {
 		// if no listeners for this event type are registered, that's okay, the event
@@ -142,6 +160,7 @@ func NewEventBus(logger hclog.Logger) (*EventBus, error) {
 		logger:          logger,
 		broker:          broker,
 		formatterNodeID: formatterNodeID,
+		timeout:         defaultTimeout,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -178,7 +197,18 @@ func (bus *EventBus) Subscribe(ctx context.Context, ns *namespace.Namespace, eve
 		defer cancel()
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
-	return asyncNode.ch, cancel, nil
+	addSubscriptions(1)
+	// add info needed to cancel the subscription
+	asyncNode.pipelineID = eventlogger.PipelineID(pipelineID)
+	asyncNode.eventType = eventlogger.EventType(eventType)
+	asyncNode.cancelFunc = cancel
+	return asyncNode.ch, asyncNode.Close, nil
+}
+
+// SetSendTimeout sets the timeout of sending events. If the events are not accepted by the
+// underlying channel before this timeout, then the channel closed.
+func (bus *EventBus) SetSendTimeout(timeout time.Duration) {
+	bus.timeout = timeout
 }
 
 func newAsyncNode(ctx context.Context, namespace *namespace.Namespace, logger hclog.Logger) *asyncChanNode {
@@ -190,8 +220,21 @@ func newAsyncNode(ctx context.Context, namespace *namespace.Namespace, logger hc
 	}
 }
 
+// Close tells the bus to stop sending us events.
+func (node *asyncChanNode) Close() {
+	node.closeOnce.Do(func() {
+		defer node.cancelFunc()
+		if node.broker != nil {
+			err := node.broker.RemovePipeline(node.eventType, node.pipelineID)
+			if err != nil {
+				node.logger.Warn("Error removing pipeline for closing node", "error", err)
+			}
+		}
+		addSubscriptions(-1)
+	})
+}
+
 func (node *asyncChanNode) Process(ctx context.Context, e *eventlogger.Event) (*eventlogger.Event, error) {
-	// TODO: add timeout on sending to node.ch
 	// sends to the channel async in another goroutine
 	go func() {
 		eventRecv := e.Payload.(*logical.EventReceived)
@@ -200,12 +243,17 @@ func (node *asyncChanNode) Process(ctx context.Context, e *eventlogger.Event) (*
 		if eventRecv.Namespace != node.namespace.Path {
 			return
 		}
+		var timeout bool
 		select {
 		case node.ch <- eventRecv:
 		case <-ctx.Done():
-			return
+			timeout = errors.Is(ctx.Err(), context.DeadlineExceeded)
 		case <-node.ctx.Done():
-			return
+			timeout = errors.Is(node.ctx.Err(), context.DeadlineExceeded)
+		}
+		if timeout {
+			node.logger.Info("Subscriber took too long to process event, closing", "ID", eventRecv.Event.ID())
+			node.Close()
 		}
 	}()
 	return e, nil
@@ -218,3 +266,7 @@ func (node *asyncChanNode) Reopen() error {
 func (node *asyncChanNode) Type() eventlogger.NodeType {
 	return eventlogger.NodeTypeSink
 }
+
+func addSubscriptions(delta int64) {
+	metrics.SetGauge([]string{"events", "subscriptions"}, float32(subscriptions.Add(delta)))
+}
diff --git a/vault/eventbus/bus_test.go b/vault/eventbus/bus_test.go
index 8275efcaf16b..94b3dd2c5ecb 100644
--- a/vault/eventbus/bus_test.go
+++ b/vault/eventbus/bus_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package eventbus
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -9,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/hashicorp/vault/sdk/logical"
 )
 
+// TestBusBasics tests that basic event sending and subscribing function.
 func TestBusBasics(t *testing.T) {
 	bus, err := NewEventBus(nil)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -62,6 +65,7 @@ func TestBusBasics(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestNamespaceFiltering verifies that events for other namespaces are filtered out by the bus.
 func TestNamespaceFiltering(t *testing.T) {
 	bus, err := NewEventBus(nil)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -121,6 +125,7 @@ func TestNamespaceFiltering(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestBus2Subscriptions verifies that events of different types are successfully routed to the correct subscribers.
 func TestBus2Subscriptions(t *testing.T) {
 	bus, err := NewEventBus(nil)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -180,3 +185,115 @@ func TestBus2Subscriptions(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error("Timeout waiting for event2")
 	}
 }
+
+// TestBusSubscriptionsCancel verifies that canceled subscriptions are cleaned up.
+func TestBusSubscriptionsCancel(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		cancel bool
+	}{
+		{cancel: true},
+		{cancel: false},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf("cancel=%v", tc.cancel), func(t *testing.T) {
+			subscriptions.Store(0)
+			bus, err := NewEventBus(nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			ctx := context.Background()
+			if !tc.cancel {
+				// set the timeout very short to make the test faster if we aren't canceling explicitly
+				bus.SetSendTimeout(100 * time.Millisecond)
+			}
+			bus.Start()
+
+			// create and stop a bunch of subscriptions
+			const create = 100
+			const stop = 50
+
+			eventType := logical.EventType("someType")
+
+			var channels []<-chan *logical.EventReceived
+			var cancels []context.CancelFunc
+			stopped := atomic.Int32{}
+
+			received := atomic.Int32{}
+
+			for i := 0; i < create; i++ {
+				ch, cancelFunc, err := bus.Subscribe(ctx, namespace.RootNamespace, eventType)
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Fatal(err)
+				}
+				t.Cleanup(cancelFunc)
+				channels = append(channels, ch)
+				cancels = append(cancels, cancelFunc)
+
+				go func(i int32) {
+					<-ch // always receive one message
+					received.Add(1)
+					// continue receiving messages as long as are not stopped
+					for i < int32(stop) {
+						<-ch
+						received.Add(1)
+					}
+					if tc.cancel {
+						cancelFunc() // stop explicitly to unsubscribe
+					}
+					stopped.Add(1)
+				}(int32(i))
+			}
+
+			// check that all channels receive a message
+			event, err := logical.NewEvent()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			err = bus.SendInternal(ctx, namespace.RootNamespace, nil, eventType, event)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Error(err)
+			}
+			waitFor(t, 1*time.Second, func() bool { return received.Load() == int32(create) })
+			waitFor(t, 1*time.Second, func() bool { return stopped.Load() == int32(stop) })
+
+			// send another message, but half should stop receiving
+			event, err = logical.NewEvent()
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			err = bus.SendInternal(ctx, namespace.RootNamespace, nil, eventType, event)
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Error(err)
+			}
+			waitFor(t, 1*time.Second, func() bool { return received.Load() == int32(create*2-stop) })
+			// the sends should time out and the subscriptions should drop when cancelFunc is called or the context cancels
+			waitFor(t, 1*time.Second, func() bool { return subscriptions.Load() == int64(create-stop) })
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// waitFor waits for a condition to be true, up to the maximum timeout.
+// It waits with a capped exponential backoff starting at 1ms.
+// It is guaranteed to try f() at least once.
+func waitFor(t *testing.T, maxWait time.Duration, f func() bool) {
+	t.Helper()
+	start := time.Now()
+
+	if f() {
+		return
+	}
+	sleepAmount := 1 * time.Millisecond
+	for time.Now().Sub(start) <= maxWait {
+		left := time.Now().Sub(start)
+		sleepAmount = sleepAmount * 2
+		if sleepAmount > left {
+			sleepAmount = left
+		}
+		time.Sleep(sleepAmount)
+		if f() {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Error("Timeout waiting for condition")
+}