diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/frame.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/frame.cpp
index b80aa8c4457f6..76ac1d77422cf 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/frame.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/frame.cpp
@@ -1163,8 +1163,7 @@ void frame::oops_do_internal(OopClosure* f, NMethodClosure* cf,
 #ifndef PRODUCT
   // simulate GC crash here to dump java thread in error report
   if (CrashGCForDumpingJavaThread) {
-    volatile char *t = nullptr; // Use volatile to prevent compiler from optimising away the store
-    *t = 'c';
+    guarantee(!CrashGCForDumpingJavaThread, "");
   }
 #endif
   if (is_interpreted_frame()) {