diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/admin.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/admin.py
index 3facf6f6b53..ffa22532120 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/admin.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/admin.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     CertificateTemplateAsset,
     GeneratedCertificate,
     ModifiedCertificateTemplateCommandConfiguration,
+    PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration,
 )
 
 
@@ -103,6 +104,11 @@ class CertificateGenerationCommandConfigurationAdmin(ConfigurationModelAdmin):
     pass
 
 
+@admin.register(PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration)
+class PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfigurationAdmin(ConfigurationModelAdmin):
+    pass
+
+
 class CertificateDateOverrideAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
     """
     # Django admin customizations for CertificateDateOverride model
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..384e58b3083
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+"""
+A management command designed to be part of the retirement pipeline for any Open EdX operators
+with users who still have legacy PDF certificates.
+
+Once an external process has run to remove the four files comprising a legacy PDF certificate,
+this management command will remove the reference to the file from the certificate record.
+
+Note: it is important to retain the reference in the certificate table until
+the files have been deleted, because that reference is the files' identifying descriptor.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import shlex
+
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
+
+from lms.djangoapps.certificates.models import (
+    GeneratedCertificate,
+    PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration,
+)
+
+User = get_user_model()
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    """
+    Doesn't invoke the custom save() function defined as part of the `GeneratedCertificate`
+    model; perforce will emit no Django signals. This is desired behavior. We are
+    using this management command to purge information that was never sent to any
+    other systems, so we don't need to propagate updates.
+
+    Example usage:
+
+    # Dry Run (preview changes):
+    $ ./manage.py lms purge_references_to_pdf_certificates --dry-run
+
+    # Purge data:
+    $ ./manage.py lms purge_references_to_pdf_certificates
+    """
+
+    help = """Purges references to PDF certificates. Intended to be run after the files have been deleted."""
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--dry-run",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Shows a preview of what users would be affected by running this management command.",
+        )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--certificate_ids",
+            nargs="+",
+            dest="certificate_ids",
+            help="space-separated list of GeneratedCertificate IDs to clean up",
+        )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--args-from-database",
+            action="store_true",
+            help=(
+                "Use arguments from the PurgeReferencesToPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration "
+                "model instead of the command line"
+            ),
+        )
+
+    def get_args_from_database(self):
+        """
+        Returns an options dictionary from the current CertificateGenerationCommandConfiguration model.
+        """
+        config = PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration.current()
+        if not config.enabled:
+            raise CommandError(
+                "PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration is disabled, "
+                "but --args-from-database was requested"
+            )
+
+        args = shlex.split(config.arguments)
+        parser = self.create_parser("manage.py", "purge_references_to_pdf_certificates")
+
+        return vars(parser.parse_args(args))
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        # database args will override cmd line args
+        if options["args_from_database"]:
+            options = self.get_args_from_database()
+
+        if options["dry_run"]:
+            dry_run_string = "[DRY RUN] "
+        else:
+            dry_run_string = ""
+
+        certificate_ids = options.get("certificate_ids")
+        if not certificate_ids:
+            raise CommandError("You must specify one or more certificate IDs")
+
+        log.info(
+            f"{dry_run_string}Purging download_url and download_uri "
+            f"from the following certificate records: {certificate_ids}"
+        )
+        if not options["dry_run"]:
+            GeneratedCertificate.objects.filter(id__in=certificate_ids).update(
+                download_url="",
+                download_uuid="",
+            )
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/tests/test_purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/tests/test_purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b831aa813fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/management/commands/tests/test_purge_references_to_pdf_certificates.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+"""
+Tests for the `purge_references_to_pdf_certificates` management command.
+"""
+
+import uuid
+
+from django.core.management import CommandError, call_command
+from testfixtures import LogCapture
+
+from common.djangoapps.student.tests.factories import UserFactory
+from lms.djangoapps.certificates.models import GeneratedCertificate
+from lms.djangoapps.certificates.tests.factories import GeneratedCertificateFactory
+from xmodule.modulestore.tests.django_utils import ModuleStoreTestCase
+from xmodule.modulestore.tests.factories import CourseFactory
+
+
+class PurgeReferencesToPDFCertificatesTests(ModuleStoreTestCase):
+    """
+    Tests for the `purge_references_to_pdf_certificates` management command.
+    """
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super().setUp()
+        self.user = UserFactory()
+        self.course_run_1 = CourseFactory()
+        self.course_run_2 = CourseFactory()
+        self.course_run_3 = CourseFactory()
+        self.cert_1 = GeneratedCertificateFactory(
+            user=self.user,
+            course_id=self.course_run_1.id,
+            download_url="http://example.com/1",
+            download_uuid=uuid.uuid4(),
+            grade=1.00,
+        )
+        self.cert_2 = GeneratedCertificateFactory(
+            user=self.user,
+            course_id=self.course_run_2.id,
+            download_url="http://example.com/2",
+            download_uuid=uuid.uuid4(),
+            grade=2.00,
+        )
+        self.cert_3 = GeneratedCertificateFactory(
+            user=self.user,
+            course_id=self.course_run_3.id,
+            download_url="http://example.com/3",
+            download_uuid=uuid.uuid4(),
+            grade=3.00,
+        )
+
+    def test_command_with_missing_certificate_ids(self):
+        """
+        Verify command with a missing certificate_ids param.
+        """
+        with self.assertRaises(CommandError):
+            call_command("purge_references_to_pdf_certificates")
+
+    def test_management_command(self):
+        """
+        Verify the management command purges expected data from only the certs requested.
+        """
+        call_command(
+            "purge_references_to_pdf_certificates",
+            "--certificate_ids",
+            self.cert_2.id,
+            self.cert_3.id,
+        )
+
+        cert1_post = GeneratedCertificate.objects.get(id=self.cert_1.id)
+        cert2_post = GeneratedCertificate.objects.get(id=self.cert_2.id)
+        cert3_post = GeneratedCertificate.objects.get(id=self.cert_3.id)
+        self.assertEqual(cert1_post.download_url, "http://example.com/1")
+        self.assertNotEqual(cert1_post.download_uuid, "")
+
+        self.assertEqual(cert2_post.download_url, "")
+        self.assertEqual(cert2_post.download_uuid, "")
+
+        self.assertEqual(cert3_post.download_url, "")
+        self.assertEqual(cert3_post.download_uuid, "")
+
+    def test_management_command_dry_run(self):
+        """
+        Verify that the management command does not purge any data when invoked with the `--dry-run` flag
+        """
+        expected_log_msg = (
+            "[DRY RUN] Purging download_url and download_uri "
+            f"from the following certificate records: {list(str(self.cert_3.id))}"
+        )
+
+        with LogCapture() as logger:
+            call_command(
+                "purge_references_to_pdf_certificates",
+                "--dry-run",
+                "--certificate_ids",
+                self.cert_3.id,
+            )
+
+        cert3_post = GeneratedCertificate.objects.get(id=self.cert_3.id)
+        self.assertEqual(cert3_post.download_url, "http://example.com/3")
+        self.assertNotEqual(cert3_post.download_uuid, "")
+
+        assert logger.records[0].msg == expected_log_msg
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/migrations/0038_pdf_certificate_purge_data_management.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/migrations/0038_pdf_certificate_purge_data_management.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6816719975e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/migrations/0038_pdf_certificate_purge_data_management.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Generated by Django 4.2.18 on 2025-02-20 22:36
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import migrations, models
+import django.db.models.deletion
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        migrations.swappable_dependency(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL),
+        ('certificates', '0037_fix_legacy_broken_invalid_certs'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.CreateModel(
+            name='PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration',
+            fields=[
+                ('id', models.AutoField(auto_created=True, primary_key=True, serialize=False, verbose_name='ID')),
+                ('change_date', models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, verbose_name='Change date')),
+                ('enabled', models.BooleanField(default=False, verbose_name='Enabled')),
+                ('arguments', models.TextField(blank=True, default='', help_text="Arguments for the 'purge_references_to_pdf_certificates' management command. Specify like '--certificate_ids <id1> <id2>'")),
+                ('changed_by', models.ForeignKey(editable=False, null=True, on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.PROTECT, to=settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, verbose_name='Changed by')),
+            ],
+            options={
+                'verbose_name': 'purge_references_to_pdf_certificates argument',
+            },
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/models.py b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/models.py
index 9c58327b99a..61ce095aecd 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/certificates/models.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/certificates/models.py
@@ -1289,6 +1289,30 @@ def __str__(self):
         return str(self.arguments)
 
 
+class PurgeReferencestoPDFCertificatesCommandConfiguration(ConfigurationModel):
+    """
+    Manages configuration for a run of the purge_references_to_pdf_certificates management command.
+
+    .. no_pii:
+    """
+
+    class Meta:
+        app_label = "certificates"
+        verbose_name = "purge_references_to_pdf_certificates argument"
+
+    arguments = models.TextField(
+        blank=True,
+        help_text=(
+            "Arguments for the 'purge_references_to_pdf_certificates' management command. "
+            "Specify like '--certificate_ids <id1> <id2>'"
+        ),
+        default="",
+    )
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return str(self.arguments)
+
+
 class CertificateDateOverride(TimeStampedModel):
     """
     Model to manually override a given certificate date with the given date.