diff --git a/include/qemu/plugin.h b/include/qemu/plugin.h
index 0fefbc6084..9a8438f683 100644
--- a/include/qemu/plugin.h
+++ b/include/qemu/plugin.h
@@ -190,6 +190,16 @@ void qemu_plugin_add_dyn_cb_arr(GArray *arr);
 
 void qemu_plugin_disable_mem_helpers(CPUState *cpu);
 
+/**
+ * qemu_plugin_user_exit(): clean-up callbacks before calling exit callbacks
+ *
+ * This is a user-mode only helper that ensure we have fully cleared
+ * callbacks from all threads before calling the exit callbacks. This
+ * is so the plugins themselves don't have to jump through hoops to
+ * guard against race conditions.
+ */
+void qemu_plugin_user_exit(void);
+
 #else /* !CONFIG_PLUGIN */
 
 static inline void qemu_plugin_add_opts(void)
@@ -250,6 +260,8 @@ void qemu_plugin_add_dyn_cb_arr(GArray *arr)
 static inline void qemu_plugin_disable_mem_helpers(CPUState *cpu)
 { }
 
+static inline void qemu_plugin_user_exit(void)
+{ }
 #endif /* !CONFIG_PLUGIN */
 
 #endif /* QEMU_PLUGIN_H */
diff --git a/include/qemu/qemu-plugin.h b/include/qemu/qemu-plugin.h
index dc3496f36c..e6e815abc5 100644
--- a/include/qemu/qemu-plugin.h
+++ b/include/qemu/qemu-plugin.h
@@ -549,6 +549,19 @@ void qemu_plugin_vcpu_for_each(qemu_plugin_id_t id,
 void qemu_plugin_register_flush_cb(qemu_plugin_id_t id,
                                    qemu_plugin_simple_cb_t cb);
 
+/**
+ * qemu_plugin_register_atexit_cb() - register exit callback
+ * @id: plugin ID
+ * @cb: callback
+ * @userdata: user data for callback
+ *
+ * The @cb function is called once execution has finished. Plugins
+ * should be able to free all their resources at this point much like
+ * after a reset/uninstall callback is called.
+ *
+ * In user-mode it is possible a few un-instrumented instructions from
+ * child threads may run before the host kernel reaps the threads.
+ */
 void qemu_plugin_register_atexit_cb(qemu_plugin_id_t id,
                                     qemu_plugin_udata_cb_t cb, void *userdata);
 
diff --git a/bsd-user/syscall.c b/bsd-user/syscall.c
index 7d986e9700..3f44311396 100644
--- a/bsd-user/syscall.c
+++ b/bsd-user/syscall.c
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ abi_long do_freebsd_syscall(void *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
         _mcleanup();
 #endif
         gdb_exit(arg1);
-        qemu_plugin_atexit_cb();
+        qemu_plugin_user_exit();
         /* XXX: should free thread stack and CPU env */
         _exit(arg1);
         ret = 0; /* avoid warning */
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ abi_long do_netbsd_syscall(void *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
         _mcleanup();
 #endif
         gdb_exit(arg1);
-        qemu_plugin_atexit_cb();
+        qemu_plugin_user_exit();
         /* XXX: should free thread stack and CPU env */
         _exit(arg1);
         ret = 0; /* avoid warning */
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ abi_long do_openbsd_syscall(void *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
         _mcleanup();
 #endif
         gdb_exit(arg1);
-        qemu_plugin_atexit_cb();
+        qemu_plugin_user_exit();
         /* XXX: should free thread stack and CPU env */
         _exit(arg1);
         ret = 0; /* avoid warning */
diff --git a/linux-user/exit.c b/linux-user/exit.c
index 70b344048c..527e29cbc1 100644
--- a/linux-user/exit.c
+++ b/linux-user/exit.c
@@ -35,5 +35,5 @@ void preexit_cleanup(CPUArchState *env, int code)
         __gcov_dump();
 #endif
         gdb_exit(code);
-        qemu_plugin_atexit_cb();
+        qemu_plugin_user_exit();
 }
diff --git a/plugins/core.c b/plugins/core.c
index e1bcdb570d..7cf4f87e18 100644
--- a/plugins/core.c
+++ b/plugins/core.c
@@ -487,6 +487,45 @@ void qemu_plugin_register_atexit_cb(qemu_plugin_id_t id,
     plugin_register_cb_udata(id, QEMU_PLUGIN_EV_ATEXIT, cb, udata);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Handle exit from linux-user. Unlike the normal atexit() mechanism
+ * we need to handle the clean-up manually as it's possible threads
+ * are still running. We need to remove all callbacks from code
+ * generation, flush the current translations and then we can safely
+ * trigger the exit callbacks.
+ */
+
+void qemu_plugin_user_exit(void)
+{
+    enum qemu_plugin_event ev;
+    CPUState *cpu;
+
+    QEMU_LOCK_GUARD(&plugin.lock);
+
+    start_exclusive();
+
+    /* un-register all callbacks except the final AT_EXIT one */
+    for (ev = 0; ev < QEMU_PLUGIN_EV_MAX; ev++) {
+        if (ev != QEMU_PLUGIN_EV_ATEXIT) {
+            struct qemu_plugin_ctx *ctx;
+            QTAILQ_FOREACH(ctx, &plugin.ctxs, entry) {
+                plugin_unregister_cb__locked(ctx, ev);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    tb_flush(current_cpu);
+
+    CPU_FOREACH(cpu) {
+        qemu_plugin_disable_mem_helpers(cpu);
+    }
+
+    end_exclusive();
+
+    /* now it's safe to handle the exit case */
+    qemu_plugin_atexit_cb();
+}
+
 /*
  * Call this function after longjmp'ing to the main loop. It's possible that the
  * last instruction of a TB might have used helpers, and therefore the
