diff --git a/UPDATING b/UPDATING
--- a/UPDATING
+++ b/UPDATING
@@ -27,6 +27,15 @@
 	world, or to merely disable the most expensive debugging functionality
 	at runtime, run "ln -s 'abort:false,junk:false' /etc/malloc.conf".)
 
+20251125:
+	The `debug.link_elf_leak_locals` and `debug.link_elf_obj_leak_locals`
+	sysctls now default to 0, so the kernel module linker no longer
+	performs symbol resolution against local symbols from other modules.
+
+	If a kernel module now fails to load because of an unresolved symbol,
+	set these sysctls to 1 and file a bug report including details about
+	the affected module.
+
 20251115:
 	The FreeBSD-base repository is now defined in /etc/pkg/FreeBSD.conf,
 	disabled by default.  In -CURRENT and -STABLE this points at nightly
diff --git a/sys/kern/link_elf.c b/sys/kern/link_elf.c
--- a/sys/kern/link_elf.c
+++ b/sys/kern/link_elf.c
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@
 	link_elf_methods, sizeof(struct elf_file)
 };
 
-static bool link_elf_leak_locals = true;
+static bool link_elf_leak_locals = false;
 SYSCTL_BOOL(_debug, OID_AUTO, link_elf_leak_locals,
     CTLFLAG_RWTUN, &link_elf_leak_locals, 0,
     "Allow local symbols to participate in global module symbol resolution");
diff --git a/sys/kern/link_elf_obj.c b/sys/kern/link_elf_obj.c
--- a/sys/kern/link_elf_obj.c
+++ b/sys/kern/link_elf_obj.c
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@
 	link_elf_methods, sizeof(struct elf_file)
 };
 
-static bool link_elf_obj_leak_locals = true;
+static bool link_elf_obj_leak_locals = false;
 SYSCTL_BOOL(_debug, OID_AUTO, link_elf_obj_leak_locals,
     CTLFLAG_RWTUN, &link_elf_obj_leak_locals, 0,
     "Allow local symbols to participate in global module symbol resolution");