diff --git a/src/internal/pthread_impl.h b/src/internal/pthread_impl.h
index f2805b89..3b4ad94d 100644
--- a/src/internal/pthread_impl.h
+++ b/src/internal/pthread_impl.h
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ struct pthread {
 	void *result;
 	struct __ptcb *cancelbuf;
 	void **tsd;
-	volatile int dead;
 	struct {
 		volatile void *volatile head;
 		long off;
diff --git a/src/thread/pthread_create.c b/src/thread/pthread_create.c
index ac06d7a7..a86b5e1b 100644
--- a/src/thread/pthread_create.c
+++ b/src/thread/pthread_create.c
@@ -39,9 +39,11 @@ _Noreturn void __pthread_exit(void *result)
 
 	LOCK(self->exitlock);
 
-	/* Mark this thread dead before decrementing count */
+	/* Access to target the exiting thread with syscalls that use
+	 * its kernel tid is controlled by killlock. For detached threads,
+	 * any use past this point would have undefined behavior, but for
+	 * joinable threads it's a valid usage that must be handled. */
 	LOCK(self->killlock);
-	self->dead = 1;
 
 	/* Block all signals before decrementing the live thread count.
 	 * This is important to ensure that dynamically allocated TLS
@@ -49,20 +51,14 @@ _Noreturn void __pthread_exit(void *result)
 	 * reasons as well. */
 	__block_all_sigs(&set);
 
-	/* Wait to unlock the kill lock, which governs functions like
-	 * pthread_kill which target a thread id, until signals have
-	 * been blocked. This precludes observation of the thread id
-	 * as a live thread (with application code running in it) after
-	 * the thread was reported dead by ESRCH being returned. */
-	UNLOCK(self->killlock);
-
 	/* It's impossible to determine whether this is "the last thread"
 	 * until performing the atomic decrement, since multiple threads
 	 * could exit at the same time. For the last thread, revert the
-	 * decrement and unblock signals to give the atexit handlers and
-	 * stdio cleanup code a consistent state. */
+	 * decrement, restore the tid, and unblock signals to give the
+	 * atexit handlers and stdio cleanup code a consistent state. */
 	if (a_fetch_add(&libc.threads_minus_1, -1)==0) {
 		libc.threads_minus_1 = 0;
+		UNLOCK(self->killlock);
 		__restore_sigs(&set);
 		exit(0);
 	}
@@ -113,6 +109,12 @@ _Noreturn void __pthread_exit(void *result)
 		__unmapself(self->map_base, self->map_size);
 	}
 
+	/* After the kernel thread exits, its tid may be reused. Clear it
+	 * to prevent inadvertent use and inform functions that would use
+	 * it that it's no longer available. */
+	self->tid = 0;
+	UNLOCK(self->killlock);
+
 	for (;;) __syscall(SYS_exit, 0);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/thread/pthread_getschedparam.c b/src/thread/pthread_getschedparam.c
index a994b637..05be4242 100644
--- a/src/thread/pthread_getschedparam.c
+++ b/src/thread/pthread_getschedparam.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ int pthread_getschedparam(pthread_t t, int *restrict policy, struct sched_param
 {
 	int r;
 	LOCK(t->killlock);
-	if (t->dead) {
+	if (!t->tid) {
 		r = ESRCH;
 	} else {
 		r = -__syscall(SYS_sched_getparam, t->tid, param);
diff --git a/src/thread/pthread_kill.c b/src/thread/pthread_kill.c
index 0a139231..6d70e626 100644
--- a/src/thread/pthread_kill.c
+++ b/src/thread/pthread_kill.c
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ int pthread_kill(pthread_t t, int sig)
 {
 	int r;
 	LOCK(t->killlock);
-	r = t->dead ? (sig+0U >= _NSIG ? EINVAL : 0)
-		: -__syscall(SYS_tkill, t->tid, sig);
+	r = t->tid ? -__syscall(SYS_tkill, t->tid, sig)
+		: (sig+0U >= _NSIG ? EINVAL : 0);
 	UNLOCK(t->killlock);
 	return r;
 }
diff --git a/src/thread/pthread_setschedparam.c b/src/thread/pthread_setschedparam.c
index 9e2fa456..ab45f2ff 100644
--- a/src/thread/pthread_setschedparam.c
+++ b/src/thread/pthread_setschedparam.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ int pthread_setschedparam(pthread_t t, int policy, const struct sched_param *par
 {
 	int r;
 	LOCK(t->killlock);
-	r = t->dead ? ESRCH : -__syscall(SYS_sched_setscheduler, t->tid, policy, param);
+	r = !t->tid ? ESRCH : -__syscall(SYS_sched_setscheduler, t->tid, policy, param);
 	UNLOCK(t->killlock);
 	return r;
 }
diff --git a/src/thread/pthread_setschedprio.c b/src/thread/pthread_setschedprio.c
index dc745b42..c353f6b5 100644
--- a/src/thread/pthread_setschedprio.c
+++ b/src/thread/pthread_setschedprio.c
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ int pthread_setschedprio(pthread_t t, int prio)
 {
 	int r;
 	LOCK(t->killlock);
-	r = t->dead ? ESRCH : -__syscall(SYS_sched_setparam, t->tid, &prio);
+	r = !t->tid ? ESRCH : -__syscall(SYS_sched_setparam, t->tid, &prio);
 	UNLOCK(t->killlock);
 	return r;
 }