diff --git a/compiler/vm/vm.nim b/compiler/vm/vm.nim
index d4a485916e2..38d1fd769b0 100644
--- a/compiler/vm/vm.nim
+++ b/compiler/vm/vm.nim
@@ -905,7 +905,7 @@ proc rawExecute(c: var TCtx, pc: var int): YieldReason =
           kind: vmTraceMin,
           pc: pc))
 
-    c.profiler.enter(c, tos)
+    c.profiler.enter()
     case instr.opcode
     of opcEof:
       # XXX: eof shouldn't be used to return a register
@@ -3034,7 +3034,7 @@ proc rawExecute(c: var TCtx, pc: var int): YieldReason =
       #createStr regs[ra]
       regs[ra].strVal = typ.typeToString(preferExported)
 
-    c.profiler.leave(c)
+    c.profiler.leave(c.sframes)
 
     inc pc
 
diff --git a/compiler/vm/vmdef.nim b/compiler/vm/vmdef.nim
index 7dccde82e6e..142d649d188 100644
--- a/compiler/vm/vmdef.nim
+++ b/compiler/vm/vmdef.nim
@@ -736,21 +736,17 @@ type
 
   ProfileInfo* = object
     ## Profiler data for a single procedure.
-    time*: float ## the time spent on executing instructions (exclusive)
-    count*: int  ## the number of instruction executed (exclusive)
-
-  SourceLinePosition* = tuple
-    ## Identifies a line in a source file. Only intended for use by
-    ## the profiler.
-    fileIndex: typeof(TLineInfo.fileIndex)
-    line: typeof(TLineInfo.line)
+    time*: float ## the time spent on executing instructions (inclusive)
+    count*: int  ## the number of instructions executed (exclusive)
 
   Profiler* = object
     # XXX: move this type to the ``vmprofiler`` module once possible
-    tEnter*: float
-    sframe*: StackFrameIndex   ## The current stack frame
+    enabled*: bool ## whether profiling is enabled
+    tEnter*: float ## the point-in-time when the active measurment started
 
-    data*: Table[SourceLinePosition, ProfileInfo]
+    data*: Table[PSym, ProfileInfo]
+      ## maps the symbol of a procedure to the associated data gathered by the
+      ## profiler
 
 func `<`*(a, b: FieldIndex): bool {.borrow.}
 func `<=`*(a, b: FieldIndex): bool {.borrow.}
@@ -893,6 +889,8 @@ proc initCtx*(module: PSym; cache: IdentCache; g: ModuleGraph;
   result.typeInfoCache.init()
   result.memory.allocator.byteType = result.typeInfoCache.charType
 
+  result.profiler.enabled = optProfileVM in g.config.globalOptions
+
 func refresh*(c: var TCtx, module: PSym; idgen: IdGenerator) =
   addInNimDebugUtils(c.config, "refresh")
   c.module = module
diff --git a/compiler/vm/vmprofiler.nim b/compiler/vm/vmprofiler.nim
index bb343e92e1c..8f51e2fe11e 100644
--- a/compiler/vm/vmprofiler.nim
+++ b/compiler/vm/vmprofiler.nim
@@ -1,12 +1,16 @@
+## Implements a simple time profiler for the VM.
+
 import
   std/[
     algorithm,
+    hashes,
     times,
     strutils,
     tables
   ],
   compiler/ast/[
-    lineinfos,
+    ast_types,
+    lineinfos
   ],
   compiler/front/[
     options,
@@ -16,36 +20,44 @@ import
     vmdef
   ]
 
+from compiler/ast/ast import id
+
+func hash(s: PSym): Hash {.inline.} =
+  hash(s.id)
 
-proc enter*(prof: var Profiler, c: TCtx, sframe: StackFrameIndex) {.inline.} =
-  if optProfileVM in c.config.globalOptions:
+proc enter*(prof: var Profiler) {.inline.} =
+  if prof.enabled:
     prof.tEnter = cpuTime()
-    prof.sframe = sframe
 
-proc leaveImpl(prof: var Profiler, c: TCtx) {.noinline.} =
-  let tLeave = cpuTime()
-  var frameIdx = prof.sframe
-  while frameIdx >= 0:
-    let frame = c.sframes[frameIdx]
-    if frame.prc != nil:
-      let li = (frame.prc.info.fileIndex, frame.prc.info.line)
-      if li notin prof.data:
-        prof.data[li] = ProfileInfo()
-      prof.data[li].time += tLeave - prof.tEnter
-      if frameIdx == prof.sframe:
-        inc prof.data[li].count
-    dec frameIdx
+proc leaveImpl(prof: var Profiler, frames: openArray[TStackFrame]) {.noinline.} =
+  # note: the implementation is kept in a separate noinline procedure in
+  # order to reduce the instruction-cache pressure when profiling is disabled
+  let diff = cpuTime()
+
+  for i in 0..<frames.len:
+    let prc = frames[i].prc
+    if prc != nil:
+      if prc notin prof.data:
+        prof.data[prc] = ProfileInfo()
+      prof.data[prc].time += diff
+      # for the active frame, increment the number of samples taken
+      if i == frames.high:
+        inc prof.data[prc].count
 
-proc leave*(prof: var Profiler, c: TCtx) {.inline.} =
-  if optProfileVM in c.config.globalOptions:
-    leaveImpl(prof, c)
+proc leave*(prof: var Profiler, frames: openArray[TStackFrame]) {.inline.} =
+  ## If profiling is enabled, ends a measurement, updating the collected data.
+  ## The data of the profiler entries associated with the `frames` is updated
+  ## with the measured time, and the "number of samples" counter of the current
+  ## active frame (last entry in the list) is incremented by one.
+  if prof.enabled:
+    leaveImpl(prof, frames)
 
 proc dump*(conf: ConfigRef, prof: Profiler): string =
-  ## Constructs a string containing a report of VM execution based on the
-  ## data collected by `prof`. The report is formatted and ready to print to
-  ## console or similar interface.
+  ## Constructs a string containing a report of VM execution based on the given
+  ## `prof`. The report is formatted and ready to print to console or
+  ## similar interface.
   const MaxEntries = 32
-  var entries: seq[(SourceLinePosition, ProfileInfo)]
+  var entries: seq[(TLineInfo, ProfileInfo)]
 
   proc compare(a: auto, b: ProfileInfo): int =
     let t1 = a[1].time
@@ -54,12 +66,12 @@ proc dump*(conf: ConfigRef, prof: Profiler): string =
     else:              0
 
   # collect the entries with the most time spent:
-  for line, info in prof.data.pairs:
+  for sym, info in prof.data.pairs:
     let pos = lowerBound(entries, info, compare)
     if pos < MaxEntries:
-      entries.insert((line, info), pos)
+      entries.insert((sym.info, info), pos)
       # discard excess entries:
-      entries.setLen(max(entries.len, MaxEntries))
+      entries.setLen(min(entries.len, MaxEntries))
 
   # render the entries to a string:
   result = "prof:     µs    #instr  location\n"
@@ -68,5 +80,5 @@ proc dump*(conf: ConfigRef, prof: Profiler): string =
     result.add align($int(info.time * 1e6), 10)
     result.add align($int(info.count), 10)
     result.add "  "
-    result.add toMsgFilename(conf, pos.fileIndex)
+    result.add toFileLineCol(conf, pos)
     result.add "\n"
diff --git a/tests/compiler/tvmprofiler.nim b/tests/compiler/tvmprofiler.nim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..013a1e01c28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/compiler/tvmprofiler.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+discard """
+  description: '''
+    Basic unit test for making sure that the VM profiler works as expected
+  '''
+  targets: native
+"""
+
+import
+  std/[
+    os,
+    strscans,
+    strutils
+  ],
+  compiler/ast/[
+    ast,
+    lineinfos
+  ],
+  compiler/front/[
+    options
+  ],
+  compiler/utils/[
+    pathutils
+  ],
+  compiler/vm/[
+    vmdef,
+    vmprofiler
+  ]
+
+var
+  conf = newConfigRef(nil)
+# get a ``FileInfoIdx``. The file's content doesn't matter, it only needs to
+# exist
+let self = conf.fileInfoIdx(currentSourcePath().AbsoluteFile)
+
+conf.filenameOption = foName # render the filepath as only the name
+
+# setup an enabled profiler:
+var profiler = Profiler(enabled: true)
+
+# setup some pseudo symbols to represent the procedures:
+var syms: seq[PSym]
+for i in 1..5:
+  syms.add PSym(itemId: ItemId(module: 0, item: int32(i-1)),
+                info: newLineInfo(self, i, i-1))
+
+var frames: seq[TStackFrame]
+
+# "enter" multiple procedures:
+for it in syms.items:
+  frames.add TStackFrame(prc: it)
+
+# take a sample on each frame:
+while frames.len > 0:
+  profiler.enter()
+  # sleep for a bit. The exact amount doesn't matter
+  sleep(1)
+  profiler.leave(frames)
+  # "leave" the frame
+  discard frames.pop()
+
+# render the data and verify the output:
+let output = dump(conf, profiler).splitLines()
+# the output must contain a header + 5 entries + trailing newline
+doAssert output.len == 7, $output
+doAssert output[^1] == "", output[^1]
+
+# verify the entries. Each must have exactly one sample taken, and the
+# procedure with the most time spent must be the first symbol, followed by
+# second one, etc.
+for i in 1..<output.len - 1:
+  var
+    time, num, line, col: int
+    path: string
+  doAssert scanf(output[i], "$s$i$s$i$s$w.nim($i,$s$i)$s$.",
+                 time, num, path, line, col)
+  doAssert num == 1 # one sample is taken within each procedure
+  doAssert path == "tvmprofiler"
+  # check that the line + column are correct:
+  doAssert line == i
+  doAssert col == i
diff --git a/tests/vm/tprofiler.nim b/tests/vm/tprofiler.nim
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0a0ee25cfa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vm/tprofiler.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+discard """
+  description: '''
+    Ensure that the VM profiler doesn't crash with exceptional control-flow
+  '''
+  matrix: "--profileVM"
+"""
+
+proc doSomething() =
+  let f = 0.5
+  # further call nesting:
+  discard $f
+
+proc p3() =
+  # call some procedure
+  doSomething()
+
+  raise CatchableError.newException("")
+
+proc p2() =
+  try:
+    p3()
+  finally:
+    # procedure call in finally block during unwinding
+    doSomething()
+
+proc p1() =
+  try:
+    p2()
+  except:
+    # procedure call in exception handler
+    doSomething()
+
+static:
+  p1()
\ No newline at end of file