diff --git a/tools/perf/util/synthetic-events.c b/tools/perf/util/synthetic-events.c
index abea6885f94bb517c3c004318d989af7c4fbf2b1..fcec775636ac61cc3ebdf95cac7798e90d7742d4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/synthetic-events.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/synthetic-events.c
@@ -704,6 +704,11 @@ int perf_event__synthesize_modules(struct perf_tool *tool, perf_event__handler_t
 	return rc;
 }
 
+static int filter_task(const struct dirent *dirent)
+{
+	return isdigit(dirent->d_name[0]);
+}
+
 static int __event__synthesize_thread(union perf_event *comm_event,
 				      union perf_event *mmap_event,
 				      union perf_event *fork_event,
@@ -712,10 +717,10 @@ static int __event__synthesize_thread(union perf_event *comm_event,
 				      struct perf_tool *tool, struct machine *machine, bool mmap_data)
 {
 	char filename[PATH_MAX];
-	DIR *tasks;
-	struct dirent *dirent;
+	struct dirent **dirent;
 	pid_t tgid, ppid;
 	int rc = 0;
+	int i, n;
 
 	/* special case: only send one comm event using passed in pid */
 	if (!full) {
@@ -747,18 +752,16 @@ static int __event__synthesize_thread(union perf_event *comm_event,
 	snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%s/proc/%d/task",
 		 machine->root_dir, pid);
 
-	tasks = opendir(filename);
-	if (tasks == NULL) {
-		pr_debug("couldn't open %s\n", filename);
-		return 0;
-	}
+	n = scandir(filename, &dirent, filter_task, alphasort);
+	if (n < 0)
+		return n;
 
-	while ((dirent = readdir(tasks)) != NULL) {
+	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
 		char *end;
 		pid_t _pid;
 		bool kernel_thread;
 
-		_pid = strtol(dirent->d_name, &end, 10);
+		_pid = strtol(dirent[i]->d_name, &end, 10);
 		if (*end)
 			continue;
 
@@ -791,7 +794,10 @@ static int __event__synthesize_thread(union perf_event *comm_event,
 		}
 	}
 
-	closedir(tasks);
+	for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
+		zfree(&dirent[i]);
+	free(dirent);
+
 	return rc;
 }
 
@@ -976,7 +982,7 @@ int perf_event__synthesize_threads(struct perf_tool *tool,
 		return 0;
 
 	snprintf(proc_path, sizeof(proc_path), "%s/proc", machine->root_dir);
-	n = scandir(proc_path, &dirent, 0, alphasort);
+	n = scandir(proc_path, &dirent, filter_task, alphasort);
 	if (n < 0)
 		return err;