diff --git a/cdc/generation.cc b/cdc/generation.cc
index 0abf903a98..4b00a184ec 100644
--- a/cdc/generation.cc
+++ b/cdc/generation.cc
@@ -547,6 +547,11 @@ future<> maybe_rewrite_streams_descriptions(
         co_return;
     }
 
+    if (db.get_config().cdc_dont_rewrite_streams()) {
+        cdc_log.warn("Stream rewriting disabled. Manual administrator intervention may be required...");
+        co_return;
+    }
+
     // For each CDC log table get the TTL setting (from CDC options) and the table's creation time
     std::vector<time_and_ttl> times_and_ttls;
     for (auto& [_, cf] : db.get_column_families()) {
diff --git a/db/config.cc b/db/config.cc
index d3d1369359..7590821263 100644
--- a/db/config.cc
+++ b/db/config.cc
@@ -780,6 +780,8 @@ db::config::config(std::shared_ptr<db::extensions> exts)
         "Time period in seconds after which unused schema versions will be evicted from the local schema registry cache. Default is 1 second.")
     , max_concurrent_requests_per_shard(this, "max_concurrent_requests_per_shard",liveness::LiveUpdate, value_status::Used, std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max(),
         "Maximum number of concurrent requests a single shard can handle before it starts shedding extra load. By default, no requests will be shed.")
+    , cdc_dont_rewrite_streams(this, "cdc_dont_rewrite_streams", value_status::Used, false,
+            "Disable rewriting streams from cdc_streams_descriptions to cdc_streams_descriptions_v2. Should not be necessary, but the procedure is expensive and prone to failures; this config option is left as a backdoor in case some user requires manual intervention.")
     , alternator_port(this, "alternator_port", value_status::Used, 0, "Alternator API port")
     , alternator_https_port(this, "alternator_https_port", value_status::Used, 0, "Alternator API HTTPS port")
     , alternator_address(this, "alternator_address", value_status::Used, "0.0.0.0", "Alternator API listening address")
diff --git a/db/config.hh b/db/config.hh
index d9dc1f5b61..c9df160fe5 100644
--- a/db/config.hh
+++ b/db/config.hh
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ public:
     named_value<unsigned> user_defined_function_contiguous_allocation_limit_bytes;
     named_value<uint32_t> schema_registry_grace_period;
     named_value<uint32_t> max_concurrent_requests_per_shard;
+    named_value<bool> cdc_dont_rewrite_streams;
 
     named_value<uint16_t> alternator_port;
     named_value<uint16_t> alternator_https_port;