diff --git a/src/debug.c b/src/debug.c
index 785ad4e41..32e0c373c 100644
--- a/src/debug.c
+++ b/src/debug.c
@@ -1583,6 +1583,7 @@ static void killMainThread(void) {
 static void killThreads(void) {
     killMainThread();
     bioKillThreads();
+    killIOThreads();
 }
 
 void doFastMemoryTest(void) {
diff --git a/src/networking.c b/src/networking.c
index 8090e391d..6becdc288 100644
--- a/src/networking.c
+++ b/src/networking.c
@@ -3028,6 +3028,23 @@ void initThreadedIO(void) {
     }
 }
 
+void killIOThreads(void) {
+    int err, j;
+    for (j = 0; j < server.io_threads_num; j++) {
+        if (io_threads[j] == pthread_self()) continue;
+        if (io_threads[j] && pthread_cancel(io_threads[j]) == 0) {
+            if ((err = pthread_join(io_threads[j],NULL)) != 0) {
+                serverLog(LL_WARNING,
+                    "IO thread(tid:%lu) can not be joined: %s",
+                        (unsigned long)io_threads[j], strerror(err));
+            } else {
+                serverLog(LL_WARNING,
+                    "IO thread(tid:%lu) terminated",(unsigned long)io_threads[j]);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 void startThreadedIO(void) {
     if (tio_debug) { printf("S"); fflush(stdout); }
     if (tio_debug) printf("--- STARTING THREADED IO ---\n");
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index d4d8de95a..ae2cecf31 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -2478,6 +2478,7 @@ void mixDigest(unsigned char *digest, void *ptr, size_t len);
 void xorDigest(unsigned char *digest, void *ptr, size_t len);
 int populateCommandTableParseFlags(struct redisCommand *c, char *strflags);
 void debugDelay(int usec);
+void killIOThreads(void);
 
 /* TLS stuff */
 void tlsInit(void);