diff --git a/kernel/debug.c b/kernel/debug.c
index b7e8c5f2..ba5bb58f 100644
--- a/kernel/debug.c
+++ b/kernel/debug.c
@@ -28,13 +28,15 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 
 static int cmd_threads(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv);
+static int cmd_threads_panic(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv);
 static int cmd_threadstats(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv);
 static int cmd_threadload(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv);
 static int cmd_kevlog(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv);
 
 STATIC_COMMAND_START
 #if LK_DEBUGLEVEL > 1
-STATIC_COMMAND_MASKED("threads", "list kernel threads", &cmd_threads, CMD_AVAIL_ALWAYS)
+STATIC_COMMAND("threads", "list kernel threads", &cmd_threads)
+STATIC_COMMAND_MASKED("threads", "list kernel threads", &cmd_threads_panic, CMD_AVAIL_PANIC)
 #endif
 #if THREAD_STATS
 STATIC_COMMAND("threadstats", "thread level statistics", &cmd_threadstats)
@@ -52,6 +54,16 @@ static int cmd_threads(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv) {
 
     return 0;
 }
+
+static int cmd_threads_panic(int argc, const console_cmd_args *argv) {
+    /* call the unsafe version of the thread dump routine since the
+     * thread lock may be held at crash time.
+     */
+    printf("thread list:\n");
+    dump_all_threads_unlocked();
+
+    return 0;
+}
 #endif
 
 #if THREAD_STATS
diff --git a/kernel/include/kernel/thread.h b/kernel/include/kernel/thread.h
index 14f32704..ddfe983f 100644
--- a/kernel/include/kernel/thread.h
+++ b/kernel/include/kernel/thread.h
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ status_t thread_set_real_time(thread_t *t);
 void dump_thread(thread_t *t);
 void arch_dump_thread(thread_t *t);
 void dump_all_threads(void);
+void dump_all_threads_unlocked(void);
 
 /* scheduler routines */
 void thread_yield(void); /* give up the cpu voluntarily */
diff --git a/kernel/thread.c b/kernel/thread.c
index ed13be7e..0b3ddf23 100644
--- a/kernel/thread.c
+++ b/kernel/thread.c
@@ -988,13 +988,8 @@ void dump_thread(thread_t *t) {
     arch_dump_thread(t);
 }
 
-/**
- * @brief  Dump debugging info about all threads
- */
-void dump_all_threads(void) {
+void dump_all_threads_unlocked(void) {
     thread_t *t;
-
-    THREAD_LOCK(state);
     list_for_every_entry(&thread_list, t, thread_t, thread_list_node) {
         if (t->magic != THREAD_MAGIC) {
             dprintf(INFO, "bad magic on thread struct %p, aborting.\n", t);
@@ -1003,6 +998,14 @@ void dump_all_threads(void) {
         }
         dump_thread(t);
     }
+}
+
+/**
+ * @brief  Dump debugging info about all threads
+ */
+void dump_all_threads(void) {
+    THREAD_LOCK(state);
+    dump_all_threads_unlocked();
     THREAD_UNLOCK(state);
 }