diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e37b5083..35e6f81b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ option(MI_LOCAL_DYNAMIC_TLS "Use slightly slower, dlopen-compatible TLS mechanis
 option(MI_BUILD_TESTS       "Build test executables" ON)
 option(MI_CHECK_FULL        "Use full internal invariant checking in DEBUG mode (deprecated, use MI_DEBUG_FULL instead)" OFF)
 option(MI_PADDING           "Enable padding to detect heap block overflow (only in debug mode)" ON)
+option(MI_XMALLOC           "Enable abort() call on memory allocation failure by default" OFF)
 
 include("cmake/mimalloc-config-version.cmake")
 
@@ -105,6 +106,11 @@ if(MI_PADDING MATCHES "OFF")
   list(APPEND mi_defines MI_PADDING=0)
 endif()
 
+if(MI_XMALLOC MATCHES "ON")
+  message(STATUS "Enable abort() calls on memory allocation failure (MI_XMALLOC=ON)")
+  list(APPEND mi_defines MI_XMALLOC=1)
+endif()
+
 if(MI_USE_CXX MATCHES "ON")
   message(STATUS "Use the C++ compiler to compile (MI_USE_CXX=ON)")
   set_source_files_properties(${mi_sources} PROPERTIES LANGUAGE CXX )
diff --git a/include/mimalloc-types.h b/include/mimalloc-types.h
index 7e50a2bc..449e2e41 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc-types.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc-types.h
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ terms of the MIT license. A copy of the license can be found in the file
 #define MI_ENCODE_FREELIST  1
 #endif
 
-
 // ------------------------------------------------------
 // Platform specific values
 // ------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/options.c b/src/options.c
index 0af4a485..9fce0398 100644
--- a/src/options.c
+++ b/src/options.c
@@ -348,6 +348,11 @@ static void mi_error_default(int err) {
     abort();
   }
 #endif
+#if defined(MI_XMALLOC)
+  if (err==ENOMEM || err==EOVERFLOW) { // abort on memory allocation fails in xmalloc mode
+    abort();
+  }
+#endif
 }
 
 void mi_register_error(mi_error_fun* fun, void* arg) {