diff --git a/storage/innobase/log/log0recv.cc b/storage/innobase/log/log0recv.cc
index c79a7e3af1015..104b5b6b42149 100644
--- a/storage/innobase/log/log0recv.cc
+++ b/storage/innobase/log/log0recv.cc
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ UNIV_INTERN mysql_pfs_key_t	recv_writer_mutex_key;
 # endif /* UNIV_PFS_MUTEX */
 
 /** Flag indicating if recv_writer thread is active. */
-UNIV_INTERN bool		recv_writer_thread_active = false;
+static volatile bool		recv_writer_thread_active;
 UNIV_INTERN os_thread_t		recv_writer_thread_handle = 0;
 #endif /* !UNIV_HOTBACKUP */
 
@@ -349,8 +349,6 @@ DECLARE_THREAD(recv_writer_thread)(
 		os_thread_pf(os_thread_get_curr_id()));
 #endif /* UNIV_DEBUG_THREAD_CREATION */
 
-	recv_writer_thread_active = true;
-
 	while (srv_shutdown_state == SRV_SHUTDOWN_NONE) {
 
 		/* Wait till we get a signal to clean the LRU list.
@@ -3008,6 +3006,7 @@ recv_init_crash_recovery(void)
 
 		/* Spawn the background thread to flush dirty pages
 		from the buffer pools. */
+		recv_writer_thread_active = true;
 		recv_writer_thread_handle = os_thread_create(
 			recv_writer_thread, 0, 0);
 	}
diff --git a/storage/xtradb/log/log0recv.cc b/storage/xtradb/log/log0recv.cc
index 11c643afff10b..6405a87a2bd25 100644
--- a/storage/xtradb/log/log0recv.cc
+++ b/storage/xtradb/log/log0recv.cc
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ UNIV_INTERN mysql_pfs_key_t	recv_writer_mutex_key;
 # endif /* UNIV_PFS_MUTEX */
 
 /** Flag indicating if recv_writer thread is active. */
-UNIV_INTERN bool		recv_writer_thread_active = false;
+static volatile bool		recv_writer_thread_active;
 UNIV_INTERN os_thread_t		recv_writer_thread_handle = 0;
 #endif /* !UNIV_HOTBACKUP */
 
@@ -348,8 +348,6 @@ DECLARE_THREAD(recv_writer_thread)(
 		os_thread_pf(os_thread_get_curr_id()));
 #endif /* UNIV_DEBUG_THREAD_CREATION */
 
-	recv_writer_thread_active = true;
-
 	while (srv_shutdown_state == SRV_SHUTDOWN_NONE) {
 
 		os_thread_sleep(100000);
@@ -3100,6 +3098,7 @@ recv_init_crash_recovery(void)
 
 		/* Spawn the background thread to flush dirty pages
 		from the buffer pools. */
+		recv_writer_thread_active = true;
 		recv_writer_thread_handle = os_thread_create(
 			recv_writer_thread, 0, 0);
 	}