diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 7e910bab1097..95768afaae3e 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ static int			run_count			=  1;
 static bool			no_inherit			= false;
 static bool			scale				=  true;
 static enum aggr_mode		aggr_mode			= AGGR_GLOBAL;
-static pid_t			child_pid			= -1;
+static volatile pid_t		child_pid			= -1;
 static bool			null_run			=  false;
 static int			detailed_run			=  0;
 static bool			big_num				=  true;
@@ -1148,13 +1148,34 @@ static void skip_signal(int signo)
 		done = 1;
 
 	signr = signo;
+	/*
+	 * render child_pid harmless
+	 * won't send SIGTERM to a random
+	 * process in case of race condition
+	 * and fast PID recycling
+	 */
+	child_pid = -1;
 }
 
 static void sig_atexit(void)
 {
+	sigset_t set, oset;
+
+	/*
+	 * avoid race condition with SIGCHLD handler
+	 * in skip_signal() which is modifying child_pid
+	 * goal is to avoid send SIGTERM to a random
+	 * process
+	 */
+	sigemptyset(&set);
+	sigaddset(&set, SIGCHLD);
+	sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &set, &oset);
+
 	if (child_pid != -1)
 		kill(child_pid, SIGTERM);
 
+	sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oset, NULL);
+
 	if (signr == -1)
 		return;