diff --git a/libcutils/ashmem-dev.cpp b/libcutils/ashmem-dev.cpp
index e35b91ae3..e67b45808 100644
--- a/libcutils/ashmem-dev.cpp
+++ b/libcutils/ashmem-dev.cpp
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ static pthread_mutex_t __ashmem_lock = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
 #ifndef __ANDROID_VNDK__
 using openFdType = int (*)();
 
+static openFdType openFd;
+
 openFdType initOpenAshmemFd() {
     openFdType openFd = nullptr;
     void* handle = dlopen("libashmemd_client.so", RTLD_NOW);
@@ -221,7 +223,10 @@ static int __ashmem_open_locked()
 
     int fd = -1;
 #ifndef __ANDROID_VNDK__
-    static auto openFd = initOpenAshmemFd();
+    if (!openFd) {
+        openFd = initOpenAshmemFd();
+    }
+
     if (openFd) {
         fd = openFd();
     }
@@ -480,3 +485,11 @@ int ashmem_get_size_region(int fd)
 
     return __ashmem_check_failure(fd, TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY(ioctl(fd, ASHMEM_GET_SIZE, NULL)));
 }
+
+void ashmem_init() {
+#ifndef __ANDROID_VNDK__
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&__ashmem_lock);
+    openFd = initOpenAshmemFd();
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&__ashmem_lock);
+#endif  //__ANDROID_VNDK__
+}
diff --git a/libcutils/ashmem-host.cpp b/libcutils/ashmem-host.cpp
index bb990d562..32446d478 100644
--- a/libcutils/ashmem-host.cpp
+++ b/libcutils/ashmem-host.cpp
@@ -82,3 +82,5 @@ int ashmem_get_size_region(int fd)
 
     return buf.st_size;
 }
+
+void ashmem_init() {}
diff --git a/libcutils/include/cutils/ashmem.h b/libcutils/include/cutils/ashmem.h
index d80caa698..abc50681a 100644
--- a/libcutils/include/cutils/ashmem.h
+++ b/libcutils/include/cutils/ashmem.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ int ashmem_set_prot_region(int fd, int prot);
 int ashmem_pin_region(int fd, size_t offset, size_t len);
 int ashmem_unpin_region(int fd, size_t offset, size_t len);
 int ashmem_get_size_region(int fd);
+void ashmem_init();
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }