diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index 5dc3afab3..d3f049eab 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -891,6 +891,12 @@ spread-checks <0..50, in percent>
   and +/- 50%. A value between 2 and 5 seems to show good results. The
   default value remains at 0.
 
+tune.buffers.reserve <number>
+  Sets the number of buffers which are pre-allocated and reserved for use only
+  during memory shortage conditions resulting in failed memory allocations. The
+  minimum value is 2 and is also the default. There is no reason a user would
+  want to change this value, it's mostly aimed at haproxy core developers.
+
 tune.bufsize <number>
   Sets the buffer size to this size (in bytes). Lower values allow more
   sessions to coexist in the same amount of RAM, and higher values allow some
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index a423d7629..ad0b44bf8 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -696,6 +696,16 @@ int cfg_parse_global(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 		}
 	}
 #endif
+	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.buffers.reserve")) {
+		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects an integer argument.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
+			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+		global.tune.reserved_bufs = atol(args[1]);
+		if (global.tune.reserved_bufs < 2)
+			global.tune.reserved_bufs = 2;
+	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.bufsize")) {
 		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
 			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects an integer argument.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);