diff --git a/src/backend.c b/src/backend.c
index c80dc0f..487a7c2 100644
--- a/src/backend.c
+++ b/src/backend.c
@@ -1362,6 +1362,7 @@
 				// see it possibly larger.
 				ALREADY_CHECKED(i);
 
+				HA_SPIN_LOCK(OTHER_LOCK, &toremove_lock[tid]);
 				tokill_conn = LIST_POP_LOCKED(&srv->idle_orphan_conns[i],
 				    struct connection *, list);
 				if (tokill_conn) {
@@ -1372,6 +1373,7 @@
 					task_wakeup(idle_conn_cleanup[i], TASK_WOKEN_OTHER);
 					break;
 				}
+				HA_SPIN_UNLOCK(OTHER_LOCK, &toremove_lock[tid]);
 			}
 		}