diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/cache/PerThreadCache.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/cache/PerThreadCache.java
index aeb74f24d1..3f4dacd8aa 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/cache/PerThreadCache.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/cache/PerThreadCache.java
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ public class PerThreadCache implements AutoCloseable {
     return CACHE.get();
   }
 
+  public static <T> T getOrCompute(Key<T> key, Supplier<T> loader) {
+    PerThreadCache cache = get();
+    return cache != null ? cache.get(key, loader) : loader.get();
+  }
+
   private final Map<Key<?>, Object> cache = Maps.newHashMapWithExpectedSize(10);
 
   private PerThreadCache() {}
diff --git a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/permissions/DefaultPermissionBackend.java b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/permissions/DefaultPermissionBackend.java
index 93f1683325..1ac95fe54c 100644
--- a/java/com/google/gerrit/server/permissions/DefaultPermissionBackend.java
+++ b/java/com/google/gerrit/server/permissions/DefaultPermissionBackend.java
@@ -109,14 +109,10 @@ public class DefaultPermissionBackend extends PermissionBackend {
       try {
         ProjectState state = projectCache.checkedGet(project);
         if (state != null) {
-          PerThreadCache perThreadCache = PerThreadCache.get();
-          if (perThreadCache == null) {
-            return projectControlFactory.create(user, state).asForProject().database(db);
-          }
-          PerThreadCache.Key<ProjectControl> cacheKey =
-              PerThreadCache.Key.create(ProjectControl.class, project, user.getCacheKey());
           ProjectControl control =
-              perThreadCache.get(cacheKey, () -> projectControlFactory.create(user, state));
+              PerThreadCache.getOrCompute(
+                  PerThreadCache.Key.create(ProjectControl.class, project, user.getCacheKey()),
+                  () -> projectControlFactory.create(user, state));
           return control.asForProject().database(db);
         }
         return FailedPermissionBackend.project("not found", new NoSuchProjectException(project));