diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 7a7da02b3bc6..c4e34420a485 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -1577,6 +1577,9 @@
 			on:  enable the feature
 			off: disable the feature
 
+			Built with CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP_DEFAULT_ON=y,
+			the default is on.
+
 			This is not compatible with memory_hotplug.memmap_on_memory.
 			If both parameters are enabled, hugetlb_free_vmemmap takes
 			precedence over memory_hotplug.memmap_on_memory.
diff --git a/fs/Kconfig b/fs/Kconfig
index 58a53455d1fe..a7749c126b8e 100644
--- a/fs/Kconfig
+++ b/fs/Kconfig
@@ -245,6 +245,16 @@ config HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP
 	depends on X86_64
 	depends on SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP
 
+config HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP_DEFAULT_ON
+	bool "Default freeing vmemmap pages of HugeTLB to on"
+	default n
+	depends on HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP
+	help
+	  When using HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP, the freeing unused vmemmap
+	  pages associated with each HugeTLB page is default off. Say Y here
+	  to enable freeing vmemmap pages of HugeTLB by default. It can then
+	  be disabled on the command line via hugetlb_free_vmemmap=off.
+
 config MEMFD_CREATE
 	def_bool TMPFS || HUGETLBFS
 
diff --git a/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c b/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
index 06802056f296..c540c21e26f5 100644
--- a/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
+++ b/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@
 #define RESERVE_VMEMMAP_NR		2U
 #define RESERVE_VMEMMAP_SIZE		(RESERVE_VMEMMAP_NR << PAGE_SHIFT)
 
-bool hugetlb_free_vmemmap_enabled;
+bool hugetlb_free_vmemmap_enabled = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP_DEFAULT_ON);
 
 static int __init early_hugetlb_free_vmemmap_param(char *buf)
 {
@@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ static int __init early_hugetlb_free_vmemmap_param(char *buf)
 
 	if (!strcmp(buf, "on"))
 		hugetlb_free_vmemmap_enabled = true;
-	else if (strcmp(buf, "off"))
+	else if (!strcmp(buf, "off"))
+		hugetlb_free_vmemmap_enabled = false;
+	else
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	return 0;