diff --git a/src/share/vm/prims/jvmtiThreadState.hpp b/src/share/vm/prims/jvmtiThreadState.hpp
index 703d873397f50b67d3cb46dbae63409a797a2b4b..5472a620bce8831582dbae89fd6dabc23f48bf03 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/prims/jvmtiThreadState.hpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/prims/jvmtiThreadState.hpp
@@ -319,6 +319,11 @@ class JvmtiThreadState : public CHeapObj {
 
     JvmtiThreadState *state = thread->jvmti_thread_state();
     if (state == NULL) {
+      if (thread->is_exiting()) {
+        // don't add a JvmtiThreadState to a thread that is exiting
+        return NULL;
+      }
+
       state = new JvmtiThreadState(thread);
     }
     return state;