diff --git a/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.result b/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.result
index 32b7b8d0a58b6..ab493fc312d04 100644
--- a/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.result
+++ b/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.result
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ create table t1 (a int primary key, v varchar(256), c int default(0)) engine=inn
 create table t2 (a int primary key, v varchar(256), c int default(0)) engine=innodb;
 begin;
 insert into t1 (a,v) select seq, repeat(char(64+mod(seq,32)),mod(seq,254)+1) from seq_1_to_3000;
+set @@tmp_memory_table_size=1024*1024;
+set @@tmp_memory_table_size=0;
 connection c1;
 # information_schema.process_list.tmp_space_used == status.tmp_space_used
 insert into t2 (a,v) select seq, repeat(char(64+mod(seq,32)),mod(seq,254)+1) from seq_1_to_3000;
diff --git a/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.test b/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.test
index 23a678270fac4..d594bd8c5bb3e 100644
--- a/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.test
+++ b/mysql-test/main/tmp_space_usage.test
@@ -102,7 +102,11 @@ begin;
 insert into t1 (a,v) select seq, repeat(char(64+mod(seq,32)),mod(seq,254)+1) from seq_1_to_3000;
 
 let $id=`select connection_id()`;
+# Use memory for the session_status query's internal temp table so it
+# does not change tmp_space_used as a side effect of reading it.
+set @@tmp_memory_table_size=1024*1024;
 let $tmp_usage1=`select variable_value from information_schema.session_status where variable_name="tmp_space_used"`;
+set @@tmp_memory_table_size=0;
 
 connection c1;
 --disable_query_log