diff --git a/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD b/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
index 26c61c7bffe09d..1cd1f8be452dfd 100644
--- a/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
+++ b/third_party/mkl_dnn/mkldnn_v1.BUILD
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ _COPTS_LIST = select({
     "-UUSE_MKL",
     "-UUSE_CBLAS",
     "-DDNNL_ENABLE_MAX_CPU_ISA",
+    "-DDNNL_ENABLE_MEM_DEBUG",
 ] + tf_openmp_copts()
 
 _INCLUDES_LIST = [