diff --git a/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c b/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
index 2b806a44a..4b283a6c8 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/nvmf.c
@@ -123,12 +123,6 @@ nvmf_tgt_init(int max_queue_depth, int max_queues_per_sess)
 	g_nvmf_tgt.max_queues_per_session = max_queues_per_sess;
 	g_nvmf_tgt.max_queue_depth = max_queue_depth;
 
-	rc = pthread_mutex_init(&g_nvmf_tgt.mutex, NULL);
-	if (rc != 0) {
-		SPDK_ERRLOG("mutex_init() failed\n");
-		return -1;
-	}
-
 	/* init nvmf specific config options */
 	if (!g_nvmf_tgt.sin_port) {
 		g_nvmf_tgt.sin_port = htons(SPDK_NVMF_DEFAULT_SIN_PORT);
@@ -171,8 +165,6 @@ nvmf_tgt_subsystem_fini(void)
 	spdk_shutdown_nvmf_subsystems();
 	spdk_nvmf_transport_fini();
 
-	pthread_mutex_destroy(&g_nvmf_tgt.mutex);
-
 	if (spdk_nvmf_check_pools() != 0) {
 		return -1;
 	}
diff --git a/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h b/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
index b3598049f..b99f1d5eb 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
+++ b/lib/nvmf/nvmf_internal.h
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <pthread.h>
 
 #include "spdk/nvmf_spec.h"
 #include "spdk/assert.h"
@@ -94,8 +93,6 @@ struct __attribute__((packed)) nvme_read_cdw13 {
 };
 
 struct spdk_nvmf_globals {
-	pthread_mutex_t mutex;
-
 	int max_queue_depth;
 	int max_queues_per_session;