diff --git a/include/drjit-core/jit.h b/include/drjit-core/jit.h
index c923ef7d..5c3cbd37 100644
--- a/include/drjit-core/jit.h
+++ b/include/drjit-core/jit.h
@@ -199,8 +199,11 @@ extern JIT_EXPORT void *jit_cuda_lookup(const char *name);
  * \brief Add CUDA event synchronization between thread state's and external
  * CUDA stream.
  *
- * An event will be recorded into the thread's states stream and the external stream
- * will wait on the event before performing any subsequent work.
+ * An event will be recorded into the thread's states stream and the external
+ * stream will wait on the event before performing any subsequent work. The
+ * special value stream==2 denotes the caller's per-thread default stream.
+ * There is no need to ever synchronize with the global NULL stream, since
+ * Dr.Jit implicitly synchronizes with respect to it.
  *
  * \param stream The CUstream handle of the external stream
  */
diff --git a/src/cuda_api.cpp b/src/cuda_api.cpp
index 293f4de4..b3d0f70e 100644
--- a/src/cuda_api.cpp
+++ b/src/cuda_api.cpp
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ bool jitc_cuda_api_init() {
         LOAD(cuStreamDestroy, "v2");
         LOAD(cuStreamSynchronize);
         LOAD(cuStreamWaitEvent);
+        LOAD(cuStreamWaitEvent_ptsz);
         LOAD(cuPointerGetAttribute);
         LOAD(cuArrayCreate, "v2");
         LOAD(cuArray3DCreate, "v2");
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ void jitc_cuda_api_shutdown() {
     Z(cuModuleGetFunction); Z(cuModuleLoadData); Z(cuModuleLoadDataEx); Z(cuModuleUnload);
     Z(cuOccupancyMaxPotentialBlockSize); Z(cuCtxPushCurrent);
     Z(cuCtxPopCurrent); Z(cuStreamCreate); Z(cuStreamDestroy);
-    Z(cuStreamSynchronize); Z(cuStreamWaitEvent); Z(cuPointerGetAttribute);
+    Z(cuStreamSynchronize); Z(cuStreamWaitEvent); Z(cuStreamWaitEvent_ptsz); Z(cuPointerGetAttribute);
     Z(cuArrayCreate); Z(cuArray3DCreate); Z(cuArray3DGetDescriptor);
     Z(cuArrayDestroy); Z(cuTexObjectCreate); Z(cuTexObjectGetResourceDesc);
     Z(cuTexObjectDestroy); Z(cuMemcpy2DAsync); Z(cuMemcpy3DAsync);
diff --git a/src/cuda_api.h b/src/cuda_api.h
index a2a04c09..142d9e59 100644
--- a/src/cuda_api.h
+++ b/src/cuda_api.h
@@ -260,6 +260,7 @@ DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuStreamCreate)(CUstream *, unsigned int));
 DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuStreamDestroy)(CUstream));
 DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuStreamSynchronize)(CUstream));
 DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuStreamWaitEvent)(CUstream, CUevent, unsigned int));
+DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuStreamWaitEvent_ptsz)(CUstream, CUevent, unsigned int));
 DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuMemAllocAsync)(CUdeviceptr *, size_t, CUstream));
 DR_CUDA_SYM(CUresult (*cuMemFreeAsync)(CUdeviceptr, CUstream));
 
diff --git a/src/cuda_core.cpp b/src/cuda_core.cpp
index 1e54389a..cbcbdda9 100644
--- a/src/cuda_core.cpp
+++ b/src/cuda_core.cpp
@@ -109,8 +109,12 @@ std::pair<CUmodule, bool> jitc_cuda_compile(const char *buf, bool release_state_
 void jitc_cuda_sync_stream(uintptr_t stream) {
     ThreadState* ts = thread_state(JitBackend::CUDA);
     CUevent sync_event = ts->sync_stream_event;
-    cuda_check(cuEventRecord(sync_event, (CUstream)ts->stream));
-    cuda_check(cuStreamWaitEvent((CUstream)stream, sync_event, CU_EVENT_DEFAULT));
+    scoped_set_context guard(ts->context);
+    cuda_check(cuEventRecord(sync_event, (CUstream) ts->stream));
+    if (stream != 2)
+        cuda_check(cuStreamWaitEvent((CUstream)stream, sync_event, CU_EVENT_DEFAULT));
+    else
+        cuda_check(cuStreamWaitEvent_ptsz(nullptr, sync_event, CU_EVENT_DEFAULT));
 }
 
 void cuda_check_impl(CUresult errval, const char *file, const int line) {