diff --git a/doc/godebug.md b/doc/godebug.md
index 50033b6f1770b8..f7baea30b2d516 100644
--- a/doc/godebug.md
+++ b/doc/godebug.md
@@ -165,6 +165,19 @@ when the connection supports neither TLS 1.3 nor Extended Master Secret
 (implemented in Go 1.21). It can be reenabled with the [`tlsunsafeekm`
 setting](/pkg/crypto/tls/#ConnectionState.ExportKeyingMaterial).
 
+Go 1.22 changed how the runtime interacts with transparent huge pages on Linux.
+In particular, a common default Linux kernel configuration can result in
+significant memory overheads, and Go 1.22 no longer works around this default.
+To work around this issue without adjusting kernel settings, transparent huge
+pages can be disabled for Go memory with the
+[`disablethp` setting](/pkg/runtime#hdr-Environment_Variable).
+This behavior was backported to Go 1.21.1, but the setting is only available
+starting with Go 1.21.6.
+This setting may be removed in a future release, and users impacted by this issue
+should adjust their Linux configuration according to the recommendations in the
+[GC guide](/doc/gc-guide#Linux_transparent_huge_pages), or switch to a Linux
+distribution that disables transparent huge pages altogether.
+
 ### Go 1.21
 
 Go 1.21 made it a run-time error to call `panic` with a nil interface value,
diff --git a/src/runtime/extern.go b/src/runtime/extern.go
index d199720b9b05cf..03050df7661d38 100644
--- a/src/runtime/extern.go
+++ b/src/runtime/extern.go
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ It is a comma-separated list of name=val pairs setting these named variables:
 	cgocheck mode can be enabled using GOEXPERIMENT (which
 	requires a rebuild), see https://pkg.go.dev/internal/goexperiment for details.
 
+	disablethp: setting disablethp=1 on Linux disables transparent huge pages for the heap.
+	It has no effect on other platforms. disablethp is meant for compatibility with versions
+	of Go before 1.21, which stopped working around a Linux kernel default that can result
+	in significant memory overuse. See https://go.dev/issue/64332. This setting will be
+	removed in a future release, so operators should tweak their Linux configuration to suit
+	their needs before then. See https://go.dev/doc/gc-guide#Linux_transparent_huge_pages.
+
 	dontfreezetheworld: by default, the start of a fatal panic or throw
 	"freezes the world", preempting all threads to stop all running
 	goroutines, which makes it possible to traceback all goroutines, and
diff --git a/src/runtime/mem_linux.go b/src/runtime/mem_linux.go
index c9823d30113310..d63c38c209d881 100644
--- a/src/runtime/mem_linux.go
+++ b/src/runtime/mem_linux.go
@@ -170,4 +170,12 @@ func sysMapOS(v unsafe.Pointer, n uintptr) {
 		print("runtime: mmap(", v, ", ", n, ") returned ", p, ", ", err, "\n")
 		throw("runtime: cannot map pages in arena address space")
 	}
+
+	// Disable huge pages if the GODEBUG for it is set.
+	//
+	// Note that there are a few sysHugePage calls that can override this, but
+	// they're all for GC metadata.
+	if debug.disablethp != 0 {
+		sysNoHugePageOS(v, n)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/runtime/runtime1.go b/src/runtime/runtime1.go
index 877d94eef28d85..087d5ebce734a7 100644
--- a/src/runtime/runtime1.go
+++ b/src/runtime/runtime1.go
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ type dbgVar struct {
 var debug struct {
 	cgocheck            int32
 	clobberfree         int32
+	disablethp          int32
 	dontfreezetheworld  int32
 	efence              int32
 	gccheckmark         int32
@@ -344,6 +345,7 @@ var dbgvars = []*dbgVar{
 	{name: "allocfreetrace", value: &debug.allocfreetrace},
 	{name: "clobberfree", value: &debug.clobberfree},
 	{name: "cgocheck", value: &debug.cgocheck},
+	{name: "disablethp", value: &debug.disablethp},
 	{name: "dontfreezetheworld", value: &debug.dontfreezetheworld},
 	{name: "efence", value: &debug.efence},
 	{name: "gccheckmark", value: &debug.gccheckmark},