I think the InvocationContextInterceptor should clean up the thread local entry as the invocation exits. The only place this causes a problem is if there is a callback (like you said, with the notifier) and this triggers another cache operation which ends up resetting the thread local entry. This is less of a problem now since interceptors don't rely on the thread local once the call goes past the ICI (the IC is passed as a param). It is also less of a problem since (JBCACHE-1022) all notifications will now be emitted from the NotificationInterceptor, after which there is not much more than cleanup work remaining. I think having the ICI clean up thread locals explicitly is more robust and maintainable than weak refs or calling code holding on to refs. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4052530#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...