diff --git a/util/qht.c b/util/qht.c
index 065fc501f4..15866299e6 100644
--- a/util/qht.c
+++ b/util/qht.c
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@ static inline void qht_bucket_remove_entry(struct qht_bucket *orig, int pos)
     int i;
 
     if (qht_entry_is_last(orig, pos)) {
-        orig->hashes[pos] = 0;
+        qatomic_set(&orig->hashes[pos], 0);
         qatomic_set(&orig->pointers[pos], NULL);
         return;
     }