Techniques are described herein for detecting and recovering over-erased memory cells in a flash memory device. In one embodiment, a flash memory device includes a memory array including a plurality of blocks of memory cells. The device also includes a command interface to receive a command from a source external to the memory device. The device also includes a controller including logic to perform a leakage-suppression process in response to the command. The leakage-suppression process includes performing a soft program operation to increase a threshold voltage of one or more over-erased memory cells in a given block of memory cells and establish an erased state.