diff --git a/src/sim/syscall_emul.hh b/src/sim/syscall_emul.hh
index dcd6b5d..295598c 100644
--- a/src/sim/syscall_emul.hh
+++ b/src/sim/syscall_emul.hh
@@ -1431,8 +1431,11 @@
         return -EINVAL;
 
     ThreadContext *ctc;
-    if (!(ctc = p->findFreeContext()))
-        fatal("clone: no spare thread context in system");
+    if (!(ctc = p->findFreeContext())) {
+        DPRINTF_SYSCALL(Verbose, "clone: no spare thread context in system"
+                        "[cpu %d, thread %d]", tc->cpuId(), tc->threadId());
+        return -EAGAIN;
+    }
 
     /**
      * Note that ProcessParams is generated by swig and there are no other