diff --git a/crates/kernel/src/process.rs b/crates/kernel/src/process.rs
index 99e1adf13..393199435 100644
--- a/crates/kernel/src/process.rs
+++ b/crates/kernel/src/process.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 extern crate alloc;
 
-use alloc::vec::Vec;
+use alloc::{boxed::Box, vec::Vec};
 use wasm_posix_shared::{Errno, WasmStat, WasmStatfs};
 
 use crate::fd::FdTable;
@@ -597,6 +597,17 @@ impl Process {
     /// - OFD 1 = stdout (CharDevice, O_WRONLY, host_handle=1)
     /// - OFD 2 = stderr (CharDevice, O_WRONLY, host_handle=2)
     pub fn new(pid: u32) -> Self {
+        *Self::new_boxed(pid)
+    }
+
+    /// Heap-allocate a new process record for call sites that should avoid
+    /// keeping a `Process` value in their own stack frame.
+    #[inline(never)]
+    pub fn new_boxed(pid: u32) -> Box<Self> {
+        Box::new(Self::new_value(pid))
+    }
+
+    fn new_value(pid: u32) -> Self {
         use crate::ofd::FileType;
         use wasm_posix_shared::flags::{O_RDONLY, O_WRONLY};
 
diff --git a/crates/shared/src/lib.rs b/crates/shared/src/lib.rs
index 544a50c24..0e61c2316 100644
--- a/crates/shared/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/shared/src/lib.rs
@@ -733,6 +733,27 @@ pub struct WasmStat {
     pub _pad: u32,
 }
 
+impl Default for WasmStat {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self {
+            st_dev: 0,
+            st_ino: 0,
+            st_mode: 0,
+            st_nlink: 0,
+            st_uid: 0,
+            st_gid: 0,
+            st_size: 0,
+            st_atime_sec: 0,
+            st_atime_nsec: 0,
+            st_mtime_sec: 0,
+            st_mtime_nsec: 0,
+            st_ctime_sec: 0,
+            st_ctime_nsec: 0,
+            _pad: 0,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /// Directory entry structure for the Wasm POSIX interface.
 ///
 /// Uses `repr(C)` for a stable, predictable memory layout that can be