diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.new.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.new.js
index efdad894e6fe3..4c7a9d62c4713 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.new.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.new.js
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import {
   createFiberFromText,
   createFiberFromPortal,
 } from './ReactFiber.new';
-import {emptyRefsObject} from './ReactFiberClassComponent.new';
 import {isCompatibleFamilyForHotReloading} from './ReactFiberHotReloading.new';
 import {StrictLegacyMode} from './ReactTypeOfMode';
 import {getIsHydrating} from './ReactFiberHydrationContext.new';
@@ -199,11 +198,7 @@ function coerceRef(
         return current.ref;
       }
       const ref = function(value) {
-        let refs = resolvedInst.refs;
-        if (refs === emptyRefsObject) {
-          // This is a lazy pooled frozen object, so we need to initialize.
-          refs = resolvedInst.refs = {};
-        }
+        const refs = resolvedInst.refs;
         if (value === null) {
           delete refs[stringRef];
         } else {
diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.old.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.old.js
index 6f209967071b9..9b2ba7706ed45 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.old.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactChildFiber.old.js
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import {
   createFiberFromText,
   createFiberFromPortal,
 } from './ReactFiber.old';
-import {emptyRefsObject} from './ReactFiberClassComponent.old';
 import {isCompatibleFamilyForHotReloading} from './ReactFiberHotReloading.old';
 import {StrictLegacyMode} from './ReactTypeOfMode';
 import {getIsHydrating} from './ReactFiberHydrationContext.old';
@@ -199,11 +198,7 @@ function coerceRef(
         return current.ref;
       }
       const ref = function(value) {
-        let refs = resolvedInst.refs;
-        if (refs === emptyRefsObject) {
-          // This is a lazy pooled frozen object, so we need to initialize.
-          refs = resolvedInst.refs = {};
-        }
+        const refs = resolvedInst.refs;
         if (value === null) {
           delete refs[stringRef];
         } else {
diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.new.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.new.js
index fe1aea87f0687..e728ca92207a9 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.new.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.new.js
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import type {Lanes} from './ReactFiberLane.new';
 import type {UpdateQueue} from './ReactFiberClassUpdateQueue.new';
 import type {Flags} from './ReactFiberFlags';
 
-import * as React from 'react';
 import {
   LayoutStatic,
   MountLayoutDev,
@@ -82,10 +81,6 @@ import {
 
 const fakeInternalInstance = {};
 
-// React.Component uses a shared frozen object by default.
-// We'll use it to determine whether we need to initialize legacy refs.
-export const emptyRefsObject = new React.Component().refs;
-
 let didWarnAboutStateAssignmentForComponent;
 let didWarnAboutUninitializedState;
 let didWarnAboutGetSnapshotBeforeUpdateWithoutDidUpdate;
@@ -871,7 +866,7 @@ function mountClassInstance(
   const instance = workInProgress.stateNode;
   instance.props = newProps;
   instance.state = workInProgress.memoizedState;
-  instance.refs = emptyRefsObject;
+  instance.refs = {};
 
   initializeUpdateQueue(workInProgress);
 
diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.old.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.old.js
index b4ad1602dadf5..9b0f297cc1c6e 100644
--- a/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.old.js
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/ReactFiberClassComponent.old.js
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import type {Lanes} from './ReactFiberLane.old';
 import type {UpdateQueue} from './ReactFiberClassUpdateQueue.old';
 import type {Flags} from './ReactFiberFlags';
 
-import * as React from 'react';
 import {
   LayoutStatic,
   MountLayoutDev,
@@ -82,10 +81,6 @@ import {
 
 const fakeInternalInstance = {};
 
-// React.Component uses a shared frozen object by default.
-// We'll use it to determine whether we need to initialize legacy refs.
-export const emptyRefsObject = new React.Component().refs;
-
 let didWarnAboutStateAssignmentForComponent;
 let didWarnAboutUninitializedState;
 let didWarnAboutGetSnapshotBeforeUpdateWithoutDidUpdate;
@@ -871,7 +866,7 @@ function mountClassInstance(
   const instance = workInProgress.stateNode;
   instance.props = newProps;
   instance.state = workInProgress.memoizedState;
-  instance.refs = emptyRefsObject;
+  instance.refs = {};
 
   initializeUpdateQueue(workInProgress);
 
diff --git a/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js b/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..db07afd8634f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/react-reconciler/src/__tests__/ReactFiberRefs-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @emails react-core
+ */
+
+'use strict';
+
+let React;
+let ReactNoop;
+let act;
+
+describe('ReactFiberRefs', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    jest.resetModules();
+    React = require('react');
+    ReactNoop = require('react-noop-renderer');
+    act = require('jest-react').act;
+  });
+
+  test('strings refs can be codemodded to callback refs', async () => {
+    let app;
+    class App extends React.Component {
+      render() {
+        app = this;
+        return (
+          <div
+            prop="Hello!"
+            ref={el => {
+              // `refs` used to be a shared frozen object unless/until a string
+              // ref attached by the reconciler, but it's not anymore so that we
+              // can codemod string refs to userspace callback refs.
+              this.refs.div = el;
+            }}
+          />
+        );
+      }
+    }
+
+    const root = ReactNoop.createRoot();
+    await act(async () => root.render(<App />));
+    expect(app.refs.div.prop).toBe('Hello!');
+  });
+
+  test('class refs are initialized to a frozen shared object', async () => {
+    const refsCollection = new Set();
+    class Component extends React.Component {
+      constructor(props) {
+        super(props);
+        refsCollection.add(this.refs);
+      }
+      render() {
+        return <div />;
+      }
+    }
+
+    const root = ReactNoop.createRoot();
+    await act(() =>
+      root.render(
+        <>
+          <Component />
+          <Component />
+        </>,
+      ),
+    );
+
+    expect(refsCollection.size).toBe(1);
+    const refsInstance = Array.from(refsCollection)[0];
+    expect(Object.isFrozen(refsInstance)).toBe(__DEV__);
+  });
+});