diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 8022d902e770..dcd082576e79 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -4839,6 +4839,18 @@
 			This is actually a boot loader parameter; the value is
 			passed to the kernel using a special protocol.
 
+	vm_debug[=options]	[KNL] Available with CONFIG_DEBUG_VM=y.
+			May slow down system boot speed, especially when
+			enabled on systems with a large amount of memory.
+			All options are enabled by default, and this
+			interface is meant to allow for selectively
+			enabling or disabling specific virtual memory
+			debugging features.
+
+			Available options are:
+			  P	Enable page structure init time poisoning
+			  -	Disable all of the above options
+
 	vmalloc=nn[KMG]	[KNL,BOOT] Forces the vmalloc area to have an exact
 			size of <nn>. This can be used to increase the
 			minimum size (128MB on x86). It can also be used to
diff --git a/include/linux/page-flags.h b/include/linux/page-flags.h
index 4d99504f6496..934f91ef3f54 100644
--- a/include/linux/page-flags.h
+++ b/include/linux/page-flags.h
@@ -163,6 +163,14 @@ static inline int PagePoisoned(const struct page *page)
 	return page->flags == PAGE_POISON_PATTERN;
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM
+void page_init_poison(struct page *page, size_t size);
+#else
+static inline void page_init_poison(struct page *page, size_t size)
+{
+}
+#endif
+
 /*
  * Page flags policies wrt compound pages
  *
diff --git a/mm/debug.c b/mm/debug.c
index bd10aad8539a..cdacba12e09a 100644
--- a/mm/debug.c
+++ b/mm/debug.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <trace/events/mmflags.h>
 #include <linux/migrate.h>
 #include <linux/page_owner.h>
+#include <linux/ctype.h>
 
 #include "internal.h"
 
@@ -175,4 +176,49 @@ void dump_mm(const struct mm_struct *mm)
 	);
 }
 
+static bool page_init_poisoning __read_mostly = true;
+
+static int __init setup_vm_debug(char *str)
+{
+	bool __page_init_poisoning = true;
+
+	/*
+	 * Calling vm_debug with no arguments is equivalent to requesting
+	 * to enable all debugging options we can control.
+	 */
+	if (*str++ != '=' || !*str)
+		goto out;
+
+	__page_init_poisoning = false;
+	if (*str == '-')
+		goto out;
+
+	while (*str) {
+		switch (tolower(*str)) {
+		case'p':
+			__page_init_poisoning = true;
+			break;
+		default:
+			pr_err("vm_debug option '%c' unknown. skipped\n",
+			       *str);
+		}
+
+		str++;
+	}
+out:
+	if (page_init_poisoning && !__page_init_poisoning)
+		pr_warn("Page struct poisoning disabled by kernel command line option 'vm_debug'\n");
+
+	page_init_poisoning = __page_init_poisoning;
+
+	return 1;
+}
+__setup("vm_debug", setup_vm_debug);
+
+void page_init_poison(struct page *page, size_t size)
+{
+	if (page_init_poisoning)
+		memset(page, PAGE_POISON_PATTERN, size);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(page_init_poison);
 #endif		/* CONFIG_DEBUG_VM */
diff --git a/mm/memblock.c b/mm/memblock.c
index 237944479d25..a85315083b5a 100644
--- a/mm/memblock.c
+++ b/mm/memblock.c
@@ -1444,10 +1444,9 @@ void * __init memblock_virt_alloc_try_nid_raw(
 
 	ptr = memblock_virt_alloc_internal(size, align,
 					   min_addr, max_addr, nid);
-#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM
 	if (ptr && size > 0)
-		memset(ptr, PAGE_POISON_PATTERN, size);
-#endif
+		page_init_poison(ptr, size);
+
 	return ptr;
 }
 
diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index 10b07eea9a6e..67ad061f7fb8 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -696,13 +696,11 @@ int __meminit sparse_add_one_section(struct pglist_data *pgdat,
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM
 	/*
 	 * Poison uninitialized struct pages in order to catch invalid flags
 	 * combinations.
 	 */
-	memset(memmap, PAGE_POISON_PATTERN, sizeof(struct page) * PAGES_PER_SECTION);
-#endif
+	page_init_poison(memmap, sizeof(struct page) * PAGES_PER_SECTION);
 
 	section_mark_present(ms);
 	sparse_init_one_section(ms, section_nr, memmap, usemap);