diff --git a/include/mimalloc-types.h b/include/mimalloc-types.h
index 9928f12d..5ce8513d 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc-types.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc-types.h
@@ -405,6 +405,7 @@ typedef struct mi_os_tld_s {
 // Thread local data
 struct mi_tld_s {
   unsigned long long  heartbeat;     // monotonic heartbeat count
+  bool                recurse;       // true if deferred was called; used to prevent infinite recursion.
   mi_heap_t*          heap_backing;  // backing heap of this thread (cannot be deleted)
   mi_segments_tld_t   segments;      // segment tld
   mi_os_tld_t         os;            // os tld
diff --git a/src/heap.c b/src/heap.c
index 8465479e..15c5d02a 100644
--- a/src/heap.c
+++ b/src/heap.c
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ static void mi_heap_collect_ex(mi_heap_t* heap, mi_collect_t collect)
 {
   if (!mi_heap_is_initialized(heap)) return;
   _mi_deferred_free(heap, collect > NORMAL);
-
+  
   // collect (some) abandoned pages
   if (collect >= NORMAL && !heap->no_reclaim) {
     if (collect == NORMAL) {
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 480960b0..3d9b4842 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ mi_decl_thread mi_heap_t* _mi_heap_default = (mi_heap_t*)&_mi_heap_empty;
 #define tld_main_stats  ((mi_stats_t*)((uint8_t*)&tld_main + offsetof(mi_tld_t,stats)))
 
 static mi_tld_t tld_main = {
-  0,
+  0, false,
   &_mi_heap_main,
   { { NULL, NULL }, {NULL ,NULL}, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, NULL, tld_main_stats }, // segments
   { 0, tld_main_stats },       // os
diff --git a/src/page.c b/src/page.c
index f1c96a71..59977f38 100644
--- a/src/page.c
+++ b/src/page.c
@@ -702,12 +702,14 @@ static inline mi_page_t* mi_find_free_page(mi_heap_t* heap, size_t size) {
   a certain number of allocations.
 ----------------------------------------------------------- */
 
-static mi_deferred_free_fun* deferred_free = NULL;
+static volatile mi_deferred_free_fun* deferred_free = NULL;
 
 void _mi_deferred_free(mi_heap_t* heap, bool force) {
   heap->tld->heartbeat++;
-  if (deferred_free != NULL) {
+  if (deferred_free != NULL && !heap->tld->recurse) {
+    heap->tld->recurse = true;
     deferred_free(force, heap->tld->heartbeat);
+    heap->tld->recurse = false;
   }
 }