diff --git a/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD b/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
index d36831ea4b9f53..81e94c2dee847f 100644
--- a/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
+++ b/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ _COPTS_LIST = select({
     "-UUSE_CBLAS",
     "-DDNNL_ENABLE_MAX_CPU_ISA",
     "-DDNNL_ENABLE_ITT_TASKS",
+    "-DDNNL_ENABLE_MEM_DEBUG",
 ] + tf_openmp_copts()
 
 _INCLUDES_LIST = [