diff --git a/src/backend/replication/walreceiver.c b/src/backend/replication/walreceiver.c
index 57c305d0e54..1bf9be673b7 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/walreceiver.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/walreceiver.c
@@ -256,13 +256,14 @@ WalReceiverMain(void)
 	walrcv->lastMsgSendTime =
 		walrcv->lastMsgReceiptTime = walrcv->latestWalEndTime = now;
 
+	/* Report the latch to use to awaken this process */
+	walrcv->latch = &MyProc->procLatch;
+
 	SpinLockRelease(&walrcv->mutex);
 
 	/* Arrange to clean up at walreceiver exit */
 	on_shmem_exit(WalRcvDie, 0);
 
-	walrcv->latch = &MyProc->procLatch;
-
 	/* Properly accept or ignore signals the postmaster might send us */
 	pqsignal(SIGHUP, WalRcvSigHupHandler);	/* set flag to read config file */
 	pqsignal(SIGINT, SIG_IGN);
@@ -777,8 +778,7 @@ WalRcvDie(int code, Datum arg)
 	/* Ensure that all WAL records received are flushed to disk */
 	XLogWalRcvFlush(true);
 
-	walrcv->latch = NULL;
-
+	/* Mark ourselves inactive in shared memory */
 	SpinLockAcquire(&walrcv->mutex);
 	Assert(walrcv->walRcvState == WALRCV_STREAMING ||
 		   walrcv->walRcvState == WALRCV_RESTARTING ||
@@ -789,6 +789,7 @@ WalRcvDie(int code, Datum arg)
 	walrcv->walRcvState = WALRCV_STOPPED;
 	walrcv->pid = 0;
 	walrcv->ready_to_display = false;
+	walrcv->latch = NULL;
 	SpinLockRelease(&walrcv->mutex);
 
 	/* Terminate the connection gracefully. */
@@ -1344,9 +1345,15 @@ ProcessWalSndrMessage(XLogRecPtr walEnd, TimestampTz sendTime)
 void
 WalRcvForceReply(void)
 {
+	Latch	   *latch;
+
 	WalRcv->force_reply = true;
-	if (WalRcv->latch)
-		SetLatch(WalRcv->latch);
+	/* fetching the latch pointer might not be atomic, so use spinlock */
+	SpinLockAcquire(&WalRcv->mutex);
+	latch = WalRcv->latch;
+	SpinLockRelease(&WalRcv->mutex);
+	if (latch)
+		SetLatch(latch);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/backend/replication/walreceiverfuncs.c b/src/backend/replication/walreceiverfuncs.c
index 78f8693ece7..b1f28d0fc4e 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/walreceiverfuncs.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/walreceiverfuncs.c
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ RequestXLogStreaming(TimeLineID tli, XLogRecPtr recptr, const char *conninfo,
 	WalRcvData *walrcv = WalRcv;
 	bool		launch = false;
 	pg_time_t	now = (pg_time_t) time(NULL);
+	Latch	   *latch;
 
 	/*
 	 * We always start at the beginning of the segment. That prevents a broken
@@ -274,12 +275,14 @@ RequestXLogStreaming(TimeLineID tli, XLogRecPtr recptr, const char *conninfo,
 	walrcv->receiveStart = recptr;
 	walrcv->receiveStartTLI = tli;
 
+	latch = walrcv->latch;
+
 	SpinLockRelease(&walrcv->mutex);
 
 	if (launch)
 		SendPostmasterSignal(PMSIGNAL_START_WALRECEIVER);
-	else if (walrcv->latch)
-		SetLatch(walrcv->latch);
+	else if (latch)
+		SetLatch(latch);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/include/replication/walreceiver.h b/src/include/replication/walreceiver.h
index 9a8b2e207ec..e58fc49c681 100644
--- a/src/include/replication/walreceiver.h
+++ b/src/include/replication/walreceiver.h
@@ -117,14 +117,6 @@ typedef struct
 	/* set true once conninfo is ready to display (obfuscated pwds etc) */
 	bool		ready_to_display;
 
-	slock_t		mutex;			/* locks shared variables shown above */
-
-	/*
-	 * force walreceiver reply?  This doesn't need to be locked; memory
-	 * barriers for ordering are sufficient.
-	 */
-	bool		force_reply;
-
 	/*
 	 * Latch used by startup process to wake up walreceiver after telling it
 	 * where to start streaming (after setting receiveStart and
@@ -133,6 +125,15 @@ typedef struct
 	 * normally mapped to procLatch when walreceiver is running.
 	 */
 	Latch	   *latch;
+
+	slock_t		mutex;			/* locks shared variables shown above */
+
+	/*
+	 * force walreceiver reply?  This doesn't need to be locked; memory
+	 * barriers for ordering are sufficient.  But we do need atomic fetch and
+	 * store semantics, so use sig_atomic_t.
+	 */
+	sig_atomic_t force_reply;	/* used as a bool */
 } WalRcvData;
 
 extern WalRcvData *WalRcv;