diff --git a/libc/bionic/pthread_internals.cpp b/libc/bionic/pthread_internals.cpp
index 2270d96..33cddd7 100644
--- a/libc/bionic/pthread_internals.cpp
+++ b/libc/bionic/pthread_internals.cpp
@@ -28,15 +28,38 @@
 
 #include "pthread_internal.h"
 
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
 
 #include "private/bionic_futex.h"
 #include "private/bionic_tls.h"
+#include "private/libc_logging.h"
 #include "private/ScopedPthreadMutexLocker.h"
 
 pthread_internal_t* g_thread_list = NULL;
 pthread_mutex_t g_thread_list_lock = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
 
+pthread_internal_t* __create_thread_struct() {
+  void* result = mmap(NULL, sizeof(pthread_internal_t), PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+                      MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0);
+  if (result == MAP_FAILED) {
+    __libc_format_log(ANDROID_LOG_WARN, "libc",
+                      "__create_thread_struct() failed: %s", strerror(errno));
+    return NULL;
+  }
+  return reinterpret_cast<pthread_internal_t*>(result);
+}
+
+void __free_thread_struct(pthread_internal_t* thread) {
+  int result = munmap(thread, sizeof(pthread_internal_t));
+  if (result != 0) {
+    __libc_format_log(ANDROID_LOG_WARN, "libc",
+                      "__free_thread_struct() failed: %s", strerror(errno));
+  }
+}
+
 void _pthread_internal_remove_locked(pthread_internal_t* thread) {
   if (thread->next != NULL) {
     thread->next->prev = thread->prev;
@@ -50,7 +73,7 @@
   // The main thread is not heap-allocated. See __libc_init_tls for the declaration,
   // and __libc_init_common for the point where it's added to the thread list.
   if ((thread->attr.flags & PTHREAD_ATTR_FLAG_MAIN_THREAD) == 0) {
-    free(thread);
+    __free_thread_struct(thread);
   }
 }