diff --git a/repos/base/src/include/base/internal/globals.h b/repos/base/src/include/base/internal/globals.h
index c934f8ccf..addaeb191 100644
--- a/repos/base/src/include/base/internal/globals.h
+++ b/repos/base/src/include/base/internal/globals.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ namespace Genode {
 	void init_exception_handling(Env &);
 	void init_signal_transmitter(Env &);
 	void init_cxx_heap(Env &);
+	void init_cxx_guard();
 	void init_ldso_phdr(Env &);
 	void init_signal_thread(Env &);
 	void init_root_proxy(Env &);
diff --git a/repos/base/src/lib/cxx/guard.cc b/repos/base/src/lib/cxx/guard.cc
index 8f6b3a5bc..4c8c599fd 100644
--- a/repos/base/src/lib/cxx/guard.cc
+++ b/repos/base/src/lib/cxx/guard.cc
@@ -16,11 +16,24 @@
 #include <base/semaphore.h>
 #include <cpu/atomic.h>
 
-
-static Genode::Registry<Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> > blocked;
+/* base-internal includes */
+#include <base/internal/globals.h>
+#include <base/internal/unmanaged_singleton.h>
 
 
-namespace __cxxabiv1 
+typedef Genode::Registry<Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> > Blockers;
+
+
+static Blockers *blockers_ptr;
+
+
+void Genode::init_cxx_guard()
+{
+	blockers_ptr = unmanaged_singleton<Blockers>();
+}
+
+
+namespace __cxxabiv1
 {
 	enum State { INIT_NONE = 0, INIT_DONE = 1, IN_INIT = 0x100, WAITERS = 0x200 };
 
@@ -54,7 +67,7 @@ namespace __cxxabiv1
 		if (!Genode::cmpxchg(in_init, INIT_NONE, IN_INIT)) {
 
 			/* register current thread for blocking */
-			Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> block(blocked);
+			Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> block(*blockers_ptr);
 
 			/* tell guard thread that current thread needs a wakeup */
 			while (!Genode::cmpxchg(in_init, *in_init, *in_init | WAITERS)) ;
@@ -88,7 +101,7 @@ namespace __cxxabiv1
 			return;
 
 		/* we had contention - wake all up */
-		blocked.for_each([](Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> &wake) {
+		blockers_ptr->for_each([](Genode::Registered_no_delete<Genode::Semaphore> &wake) {
 			wake.up();
 		});
 	}
diff --git a/repos/base/src/lib/ldso/main.cc b/repos/base/src/lib/ldso/main.cc
index 9fa5487e0..277bea2c5 100644
--- a/repos/base/src/lib/ldso/main.cc
+++ b/repos/base/src/lib/ldso/main.cc
@@ -636,6 +636,9 @@ Elf::Sym const *Linker::lookup_symbol(char const *name, Dependency const &dep,
  */
 extern "C" void init_rtld()
 {
+	/* init cxa guard mechanism before any local static variables are used */
+	init_cxx_guard();
+
 	/*
 	 * Allocate on stack, since the linker has not been relocated yet, the vtable
 	 * type relocation might produce a wrong vtable pointer (at least on ARM), do
diff --git a/repos/base/src/lib/startup/init_main_thread.cc b/repos/base/src/lib/startup/init_main_thread.cc
index 7082433a1..771ae7c6c 100644
--- a/repos/base/src/lib/startup/init_main_thread.cc
+++ b/repos/base/src/lib/startup/init_main_thread.cc
@@ -35,11 +35,17 @@ void prepare_init_main_thread();
 
 enum { MAIN_THREAD_STACK_SIZE = 16*1024 };
 
+
 /**
  * Satisfy crt0.s in static programs, LDSO overrides this symbol
  */
 extern "C" void init_rtld() __attribute__((weak));
-void init_rtld() { }
+void init_rtld()
+{
+	/* init cxa guard mechanism before any local static variables are used */
+	init_cxx_guard();
+}
+
 
 /**
  * Lower bound of the stack, solely used for sanity checking