diff --git a/src/runtime/gc_leaking.go b/src/runtime/gc_leaking.go
index 71c4258b67..d878ce40a6 100644
--- a/src/runtime/gc_leaking.go
+++ b/src/runtime/gc_leaking.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package runtime
 // may be the only memory allocator possible.
 
 import (
+	"internal/task"
 	"unsafe"
 )
 
@@ -19,6 +20,9 @@ var gcTotalAlloc uint64
 // Total number of calls to alloc()
 var gcMallocs uint64
 
+// Heap lock for parallel goroutines. No-op when single threaded.
+var gcLock task.PMutex
+
 // Total number of objected freed; for leaking collector this stays 0
 const gcFrees = 0
 
@@ -30,6 +34,7 @@ func alloc(size uintptr, layout unsafe.Pointer) unsafe.Pointer {
 	// TODO: this can be optimized by not casting between pointers and ints so
 	// much. And by using platform-native data types (e.g. *uint8 for 8-bit
 	// systems).
+	gcLock.Lock()
 	size = align(size)
 	addr := heapptr
 	gcTotalAlloc += uint64(size)
@@ -43,6 +48,8 @@ func alloc(size uintptr, layout unsafe.Pointer) unsafe.Pointer {
 		// Failed to make the heap bigger, so we must really be out of memory.
 		runtimePanic("out of memory")
 	}
+	gcLock.Unlock()
+
 	pointer := unsafe.Pointer(addr)
 	zero_new_alloc(pointer, size)
 	return pointer
@@ -69,6 +76,8 @@ func free(ptr unsafe.Pointer) {
 // The returned memory statistics are up to date as of the
 // call to ReadMemStats. This would not do GC implicitly for you.
 func ReadMemStats(m *MemStats) {
+	gcLock.Lock()
+
 	m.HeapIdle = 0
 	m.HeapInuse = gcTotalAlloc
 	m.HeapReleased = 0 // always 0, we don't currently release memory back to the OS.
@@ -82,6 +91,8 @@ func ReadMemStats(m *MemStats) {
 	// no free -- current in use heap is the total allocated
 	m.HeapAlloc = gcTotalAlloc
 	m.Alloc = m.HeapAlloc
+
+	gcLock.Unlock()
 }
 
 func GC() {