diff --git a/mm/kmemleak.c b/mm/kmemleak.c
index f63dfacee7ca..8fa409a4f9fb 100644
--- a/mm/kmemleak.c
+++ b/mm/kmemleak.c
@@ -237,7 +237,8 @@ static struct task_struct *scan_thread;
 /* used to avoid reporting of recently allocated objects */
 static unsigned long jiffies_min_age;
 /* consecutive scans an object must stay unreferenced before reporting */
-static unsigned int min_unref_scans = 1;
+static unsigned int min_unref_scans =
+	IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK_VERBOSE) ? 2 : 1;
 module_param(min_unref_scans, uint, 0644);
 static unsigned long jiffies_last_scan;
 /* delay between automatic memory scannings */