diff --git a/src/dbinc/lock.h b/src/dbinc/lock.h
index d6133e800..1090779ef 100644
--- a/src/dbinc/lock.h
+++ b/src/dbinc/lock.h
@@ -329,6 +329,8 @@ struct __db_lock { /* SHARED */
 	MUTEX_UNLOCK(env, (region)->mtx_dd)
 #define	LOCK_LOCKERS(env, region)					\
 	MUTEX_LOCK(env, (region)->mtx_lockers)
+#define	RDLOCK_LOCKERS(env, region)					\
+	MUTEX_READLOCK(env, (region)->mtx_lockers)
 #define	UNLOCK_LOCKERS(env, region)					\
 	MUTEX_UNLOCK(env, (region)->mtx_lockers)
 
diff --git a/src/lock/lock.c b/src/lock/lock.c
index 73400d92d..7bd16e870 100644
--- a/src/lock/lock.c
+++ b/src/lock/lock.c
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ __lock_get_api(env, locker, flags, obj, lock_mode, lock)
 
 	region = env->lk_handle->reginfo.primary;
 
-	LOCK_LOCKERS(env, region);
+	RDLOCK_LOCKERS(env, region);
 	ret = __lock_getlocker_int(env->lk_handle, locker, 0, &sh_locker);
 	UNLOCK_LOCKERS(env, region);
 	LOCK_SYSTEM_LOCK(env->lk_handle, region);
diff --git a/src/lock/lock_region.c b/src/lock/lock_region.c
index bd5a7a170..29695cdfb 100644
--- a/src/lock/lock_region.c
+++ b/src/lock/lock_region.c
@@ -253,8 +253,16 @@ __lock_region_init(env, lt)
 	    env, MTX_LOCK_REGION, 0, &region->mtx_dd)) != 0)
 		return (ret);
 
+	/*
+	 * The locker mutex is a SHARED latch: the hot lock-get path looks up
+	 * an existing locker (a read-only hash walk) and takes it shared, so
+	 * many cores can resolve their locker concurrently; locker create,
+	 * free, the deadlock detector's locker-list walk, failchk, and stat
+	 * take it exclusive.  This removes the per-operation global
+	 * serialization on lock_get/lock_put.
+	 */
 	if ((ret = __mutex_alloc(
-	    env, MTX_LOCK_REGION, 0, &region->mtx_lockers)) != 0)
+	    env, MTX_LOCK_REGION, DB_MUTEX_SHARED, &region->mtx_lockers)) != 0)
 		return (ret);
 
 	/* Allocate room for the locker hash table and initialize it. */