Bug: ESLint flags just refering (not calling) functions that use refs as accessing refs (react-hooks/refs)

React version: 19.2.8
ESLint version: 9.39.5
Node.js version; 24.20.0

Steps To Reproduce

1. Run npm run lint command at the root of the repository.

Link to code example: mikecat/next-read-function-using-ref-in-render: Next.js example where just refering (not calling) function that uses refs is marked as accessing refs during render

page.tsx:

import { useCallback, useState, useRef } from 'react';

export default function Home() {
  const [sampleValue, setSampleValue] = useState(0);
  const sampleRef = useRef(0);

  const sampleFunc = useCallback(() => {
    setSampleValue(++sampleRef.current);
  }, []);

  const [prevSampleFunc, setPrevSampleFunc] = useState<(() => void) | null>(null);
  if (sampleFunc !== prevSampleFunc) {
    setPrevSampleFunc(() => sampleFunc);
  }

  return null;
}

The current behavior

You will see this error message:

  12:7   error    Error: Cannot access refs during render

React refs are values that are not needed for rendering. Refs should only be accessed outside of render, such as in event handlers or effects. Accessing a ref value (the `current` property) during render can cause your component not to update as expected (https://react.dev/reference/react/useRef).

C:\MyApps\temp\next-read-function-using-ref-in-render\app\page.tsx:12:7
  10 |
  11 |   const [prevSampleFunc, setPrevSampleFunc] = useState<(() => void) | null>(null);
> 12 |   if (sampleFunc !== prevSampleFunc) {
     |       ^^^^^^^^^^ Cannot access ref value during render
  13 |     setPrevSampleFunc(() => sampleFunc);
  14 |   }
  15 |  react-hooks/refs

The expected behavior

In this code, the function sampleFunc is just referred and not called during render.

Therefore, I don't think that this code is accessing refs during render as the error message suggests.

I expect this message, which looks like a false positive, isn't emitted for this code.

Start with the TypeScript example in page.tsx and run npm run lint to reproduce the react-hooks/refs diagnostic. Trace how the rule handles referencing sampleFunc versus calling it, then verify that the warning is absent when the function is only referred to during render.