diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e09ef141569..f6d00d02836 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1454,6 +1454,10 @@ if test "$use_boost" = "yes"; then
   dnl we don't use multi_index serialization
   BOOST_CPPFLAGS="$BOOST_CPPFLAGS -DBOOST_MULTI_INDEX_DISABLE_SERIALIZATION"
 
+  if test "$enable_debug" = "yes" || test "$enable_fuzz" = "yes"; then
+    BOOST_CPPFLAGS="$BOOST_CPPFLAGS -DBOOST_MULTI_INDEX_ENABLE_SAFE_MODE"
+  fi
+
   if test "$suppress_external_warnings" != "no"; then
     BOOST_CPPFLAGS=SUPPRESS_WARNINGS($BOOST_CPPFLAGS)
   fi