diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index 722f95e1ea0b1..b1f31f7b81bba 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -3828,6 +3828,15 @@ static int calculate_sizes(struct kmem_cache *s, int forced_order)
 
 static int kmem_cache_open(struct kmem_cache *s, slab_flags_t flags)
 {
+#ifdef CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG
+	/*
+	 * If no slub_debug was enabled globally, the static key is not yet
+	 * enabled by setup_slub_debug(). Enable it if the cache is being
+	 * created with any of the debugging flags passed explicitly.
+	 */
+	if (flags & SLAB_DEBUG_FLAGS)
+		static_branch_enable(&slub_debug_enabled);
+#endif
 	s->flags = kmem_cache_flags(s->size, flags, s->name);
 #ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED
 	s->random = get_random_long();