--- old/src/share/vm/gc/shared/workgroup.cpp	2016-06-23 12:33:42.379511238 -0700
+++ new/src/share/vm/gc/shared/workgroup.cpp	2016-06-23 12:33:42.279511242 -0700
@@ -271,8 +271,11 @@
             "Trying to execute task %s with %u workers which is more than the amount of total workers %u.",
             task->name(), num_workers, total_workers());
   guarantee(num_workers > 0, "Trying to execute task %s with zero workers", task->name());
-  add_workers(num_workers, false);
-  _dispatcher->coordinator_execute_on_workers(task, num_workers);
+  // num_workers may have been calculated based on different criteria
+  // than _active_workers so use num_workers limited by the number of
+  // created workers.
+  uint active_workers = MIN2(_created_workers, num_workers);
+  _dispatcher->coordinator_execute_on_workers(task, active_workers);
 }
 
 AbstractGangWorker::AbstractGangWorker(AbstractWorkGang* gang, uint id) {