diff --git a/Lib/linecache.py b/Lib/linecache.py
index 4b97be3f05f8d8a..a8bef690ef86b81 100644
--- a/Lib/linecache.py
+++ b/Lib/linecache.py
@@ -63,10 +63,12 @@ def checkcache(filename=None):
         try:
             stat = os.stat(fullname)
         except os.error:
-            del cache[filename]
+            # Use pop instead of del because in a multithreaded case, this
+            # could have been deleted by another thread.
+            cache.pop(filename, None)
             continue
         if size != stat.st_size or mtime != stat.st_mtime:
-            del cache[filename]
+            cache.pop(filename, None)   # likewise
 
 
 def updatecache(filename, module_globals=None):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-02-27-15-00-22.bpo-25872.ItVO2B.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-02-27-15-00-22.bpo-25872.ItVO2B.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..06a6bd579ba5e0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-02-27-15-00-22.bpo-25872.ItVO2B.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fixed a race condition in linecache.checkcache() that sometimes caused an
+exception if two threads generated a traceback simultaneously.
+Patch by Christopher Unkel.