diff --git a/src/nb_internals.h b/src/nb_internals.h
index f919499e..4a1fbb40 100644
--- a/src/nb_internals.h
+++ b/src/nb_internals.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ struct nb_inst { // usually: 24 bytes
 
     /// State of the C++ object this instance points to: is it constructed?
     /// can we use it?
-    uint32_t state : 2;
+    uint8_t state : 2;
 
     // Values for `state`. Note that the numeric values of these are relied upon
     // for an optimization in `nb_type_get()`.
@@ -70,25 +70,27 @@ struct nb_inst { // usually: 24 bytes
      * relative offset to a pointer that must be dereferenced to get to the
      * instance data. 'direct' is 'true' in the former case.
      */
-    uint32_t direct : 1;
+    uint8_t direct : 1;
 
     /// Is the instance data co-located with the Python object?
-    uint32_t internal : 1;
+    uint8_t internal : 1;
 
     /// Should the destructor be called when this instance is GCed?
-    uint32_t destruct : 1;
+    uint8_t destruct : 1;
 
     /// Should nanobind call 'operator delete' when this instance is GCed?
-    uint32_t cpp_delete : 1;
-
-    /// Does this instance hold references to others? (via internals.keep_alive)
-    uint32_t clear_keep_alive : 1;
+    uint8_t cpp_delete : 1;
 
     /// Does this instance use intrusive reference counting?
-    uint32_t intrusive : 1;
+    uint8_t intrusive : 1;
+
+    /// Does this instance hold references to others? (via internals.keep_alive)
+    /// This may be accessed concurrently to 'state', so it must not be in
+    /// the same bitfield as 'state'.
+    uint8_t clear_keep_alive;
 
     // That's a lot of unused space. I wonder if there is a good use for it..
-    uint32_t unused : 24;
+    uint16_t unused;
 };
 
 static_assert(sizeof(nb_inst) == sizeof(PyObject) + sizeof(uint32_t) * 2);
diff --git a/tests/test_thread.cpp b/tests/test_thread.cpp
index 97e82960..34f6ab98 100644
--- a/tests/test_thread.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_thread.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 #include <nanobind/nanobind.h>
+#include <nanobind/stl/shared_ptr.h>
+
+#include <memory>
+#include <vector>
 
 namespace nb = nanobind;
 using namespace nb::literals;
@@ -32,6 +36,11 @@ class ClassWithClassProperty {
     ClassWithProperty value_;
 };
 
+struct AnInt {
+    int value;
+    AnInt(int v) : value(v) {}
+};
+
 
 NB_MODULE(test_thread_ext, m) {
     nb::class_<Counter>(m, "Counter")
@@ -68,4 +77,17 @@ NB_MODULE(test_thread_ext, m) {
             new (self) ClassWithClassProperty(std::move(value));
           }, nb::arg("value"))
         .def_prop_ro("prop1", &ClassWithClassProperty::get_prop);
+
+    nb::class_<AnInt>(m, "AnInt")
+        .def(nb::init<int>())
+        .def_rw("value", &AnInt::value);
+
+    std::vector<std::shared_ptr<AnInt>> shared_ints;
+    for (int i = 0; i < 5; ++i) {
+        shared_ints.push_back(std::make_shared<AnInt>(i));
+    }
+    m.def("fetch_shared_int", [shared_ints](int i) {
+        return shared_ints.at(i);
+    });
+    m.def("consume_an_int", [](AnInt* p) { return p->value; });
 }
diff --git a/tests/test_thread.py b/tests/test_thread.py
index 1d5992ee..22bb5c71 100644
--- a/tests/test_thread.py
+++ b/tests/test_thread.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import random
+import threading
+
 import test_thread_ext as t
 from test_thread_ext import Counter, GlobalData, ClassWithProperty, ClassWithClassProperty
 from common import parallelize
@@ -100,3 +103,16 @@ def f():
             _ = c2.prop1.prop2
 
     parallelize(f, n_threads=n_threads)
+
+
+def test08_shared_ptr_threaded_access(n_threads=8):
+    # Test for keep_alive racing with other fields.
+    def f(barrier):
+        i = random.randint(0, 4)
+        barrier.wait()
+        p = t.fetch_shared_int(i)
+        assert t.consume_an_int(p) == i
+
+    for _ in range(100):
+        barrier = threading.Barrier(n_threads)
+        parallelize(lambda: f(barrier), n_threads=n_threads)