diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index a388f413b6..02c2312834 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 # Rocksdb Change Log
+## Unreleased
+* Fix a race condition between DB startups and shutdowns in managing the periodic background worker threads. One effect of this race condition could be the process being terminated.
+
 ## 6.17.0 (01/15/2021)
 ### Behavior Changes
 * When verifying full file checksum with `DB::VerifyFileChecksums()`, we now fail with `Status::InvalidArgument` if the name of the checksum generator used for verification does not match the name of the checksum generator used for protecting the file when it was created.
diff --git a/db/periodic_work_scheduler.cc b/db/periodic_work_scheduler.cc
index cc6f714d94..da0bc1e4b8 100644
--- a/db/periodic_work_scheduler.cc
+++ b/db/periodic_work_scheduler.cc
@@ -10,13 +10,14 @@
 #ifndef ROCKSDB_LITE
 namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
 
-PeriodicWorkScheduler::PeriodicWorkScheduler(Env* env) {
+PeriodicWorkScheduler::PeriodicWorkScheduler(Env* env) : timer_mu_(env) {
   timer = std::unique_ptr<Timer>(new Timer(env));
 }
 
 void PeriodicWorkScheduler::Register(DBImpl* dbi,
                                      unsigned int stats_dump_period_sec,
                                      unsigned int stats_persist_period_sec) {
+  MutexLock l(&timer_mu_);
   static std::atomic<uint64_t> initial_delay(0);
   timer->Start();
   if (stats_dump_period_sec > 0) {
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ void PeriodicWorkScheduler::Register(DBImpl* dbi,
 }
 
 void PeriodicWorkScheduler::Unregister(DBImpl* dbi) {
+  MutexLock l(&timer_mu_);
   timer->Cancel(GetTaskName(dbi, "dump_st"));
   timer->Cancel(GetTaskName(dbi, "pst_st"));
   timer->Cancel(GetTaskName(dbi, "flush_info_log"));
@@ -78,7 +80,10 @@ PeriodicWorkTestScheduler* PeriodicWorkTestScheduler::Default(Env* env) {
     MutexLock l(&mutex);
     if (scheduler.timer.get() != nullptr &&
         scheduler.timer->TEST_GetPendingTaskNum() == 0) {
-      scheduler.timer->Shutdown();
+      {
+        MutexLock timer_mu_guard(&scheduler.timer_mu_);
+        scheduler.timer->Shutdown();
+      }
       scheduler.timer.reset(new Timer(env));
     }
   }
diff --git a/db/periodic_work_scheduler.h b/db/periodic_work_scheduler.h
index 6c1ce314cd..9382adc449 100644
--- a/db/periodic_work_scheduler.h
+++ b/db/periodic_work_scheduler.h
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ class PeriodicWorkScheduler {
 
  protected:
   std::unique_ptr<Timer> timer;
+  // `timer_mu_` serves two purposes currently:
+  // (1) to ensure calls to `Start()` and `Shutdown()` are serialized, as
+  //     they are currently not implemented in a thread-safe way; and
+  // (2) to ensure the `Timer::Add()`s and `Timer::Start()` run atomically, and
+  //     the `Timer::Cancel()`s and `Timer::Shutdown()` run atomically.
+  port::Mutex timer_mu_;
 
   explicit PeriodicWorkScheduler(Env* env);
 
diff --git a/util/timer.h b/util/timer.h
index 8e12d7d7b8..b6ee42ed05 100644
--- a/util/timer.h
+++ b/util/timer.h
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
 
 // A Timer class to handle repeated work.
 //
+// `Start()` and `Shutdown()` are currently not thread-safe. The client must
+// serialize calls to these two member functions.
+//
 // A single timer instance can handle multiple functions via a single thread.
 // It is better to leave long running work to a dedicated thread pool.
 //