diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/chromium/crNetworkManager.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/chromium/crNetworkManager.ts
index 93929394bf224..55ea7c92a2c21 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/chromium/crNetworkManager.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/chromium/crNetworkManager.ts
@@ -591,8 +591,8 @@ class InterceptableRequest {
       (request as any)[kInterceptableRequest] = undefined;
   }
 
-  static createResponseBodyCallback(request: network.Request): () => Promise<Buffer> {
-    return async () => {
+  static createResponseBodyCallback(request: network.Request): (isExplicit: boolean) => Promise<Buffer> {
+    return async (isExplicit: boolean) => {
       // Lookup the request lazily, so that the response does not retain the
       // InterceptableRequest and its session after detachIfNeeded().
       const interceptable = InterceptableRequest.from(request);
@@ -610,11 +610,18 @@ class InterceptableRequest {
       if (interceptable._originalRequestRoute?._fulfilled)
         return Buffer.from('');
 
-      // Re-fetching the resource may produce side effects on the server, only
-      // do it for GETs of static subresources and prefetch requests.
+      // Re-fetching the resource may produce side effects on the server, so
+      // never do it for non-GETs, explicit call or not: a caller who
+      // deliberately reads a POST's body did not ask to resubmit it.
       if (request.method() !== 'GET')
         return Buffer.from('');
-      if (!kRefetchSafeResourceTypes.has(request.resourceType())) {
+      // For an automatic, blanket capture (harTracer.ts records every
+      // response for HAR/trace output, isExplicit=false) only re-fetch GETs
+      // that are safe to replay sight unseen: static subresources and
+      // prefetches (see #42002). A caller that explicitly awaited
+      // response.body() for this one response already accepts a re-fetch
+      // for it, whatever the resource type.
+      if (!isExplicit && !kRefetchSafeResourceTypes.has(request.resourceType())) {
         const rawHeaders = await request.internalRawRequestHeaders();
         const isPrefetch = rawHeaders.some(h => h.name.toLowerCase() === 'sec-purpose' && h.value.startsWith('prefetch'));
         if (!isPrefetch)
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/network.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/network.ts
index d25f342645090..352c12c3d2b8e 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/network.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/network.ts
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ export class Route extends SdkObject {
 
 export type RouteHandler = (route: Route, request: Request) => void;
 
-type GetResponseBodyCallback = () => Promise<Buffer>;
+type GetResponseBodyCallback = (isExplicit: boolean) => Promise<Buffer>;
 
 export type ResourceTiming = {
   startTime: number;
@@ -546,7 +546,11 @@ export class Response extends SdkObject {
   }
 
   async body(progress: Progress): Promise<Buffer> {
-    return await this._request.raceWithPageClosure(progress, this.internalBody());
+    // This is a deliberate, one-off call from client code (as opposed to
+    // harTracer's automatic per-response capture), so it is safe to recover
+    // an evicted body by re-fetching regardless of resource type: see the
+    // isExplicit parameter on internalBody().
+    return await this._request.raceWithPageClosure(progress, this.internalBody(true));
   }
 
   async securityDetails(progress: Progress): Promise<SecurityDetails | null> {
@@ -643,7 +647,16 @@ export class Response extends SdkObject {
     return await this._rawResponseHeadersPromise;
   }
 
-  async internalBody(): Promise<Buffer> {
+  // isExplicit distinguishes a deliberate, one-off body() call (from client
+  // code, via body() above) from an automatic, blanket capture of every
+  // response (harTracer.ts, for HAR/trace recording). When Chromium has
+  // evicted the body and it needs to be recovered via a real re-fetch, only
+  // the explicit case is allowed to do so for any GET: re-fetching every
+  // response automatically can silently duplicate requests with server-side
+  // side effects (see https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/42002),
+  // but a test author who deliberately calls response.body() once already
+  // accepts that cost for the one response they asked for.
+  async internalBody(isExplicit = false): Promise<Buffer> {
     await this._finishedPromise;
     if (this._status >= 300 && this._status <= 399)
       throw new Error('Response body is unavailable for redirect responses');
@@ -652,7 +665,7 @@ export class Response extends SdkObject {
       return Buffer.from(body, isBase64 ? 'base64' : 'utf-8');
     }
     try {
-      return await this._getResponseBodyCallback();
+      return await this._getResponseBodyCallback(isExplicit);
     } catch (e) {
       if (isProtocolError(e) && e.type === 'error')
         rewriteErrorMessage(e, e.message + '\nResponse body is not available for a response that was navigated away from. Read response.body() before triggering any navigation.');
diff --git a/tests/page/page-network-response.spec.ts b/tests/page/page-network-response.spec.ts
index d1bbf7593c754..a6d86cc411a3f 100644
--- a/tests/page/page-network-response.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/page/page-network-response.spec.ts
@@ -392,6 +392,32 @@ it('should return body for image with evicted body', {
   expect(body.toString('base64')).toBe(imageBase64);
 });
 
+it('should return body for a fetch()ed resource with evicted body when the page already read it', {
+  annotation: { type: 'issue', description: 'https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/42862' },
+}, async ({ page, server, isMac, browserName }) => {
+  it.fixme(isMac && browserName === 'webkit', 'WebKit on Mac evicts the body and returns empty buffer');
+  // Any app that turns a fetch() response into a downloadable file reads the
+  // body in-page first (here via .blob(), same as URL.createObjectURL-based
+  // downloads). That consumption is what makes Chromium evict the body, so
+  // response.body() needs the explicit re-fetch path even though "fetch" is
+  // not in the static-subresource allowlist used for automatic HAR capture.
+  server.setRoute('/resource.bin', (req, res) => {
+    res.setHeader('content-type', 'application/octet-stream');
+    res.end(Buffer.from('hello from resource.bin'));
+  });
+  server.setRoute('/page.html', (req, res) => {
+    res.setHeader('content-type', 'text/html');
+    res.end('<html><body><script>window.fetchAndConsume = () => fetch("/resource.bin").then(r => r.blob());</script></body></html>');
+  });
+  await page.goto(server.PREFIX + '/page.html');
+  const [response] = await Promise.all([
+    page.waitForResponse('**/resource.bin'),
+    page.evaluate(() => window['fetchAndConsume']()),
+  ]);
+  const body = await response.body();
+  expect(body.toString()).toBe('hello from resource.bin');
+});
+
 it('should bypass disk cache when page interception is enabled', async ({ page, server }) => {
   it.info().annotations.push({ type: 'issue', description: 'https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/30000' });
   await page.goto(server.PREFIX + '/frames/one-frame.html');