diff --git a/apps/restconf/restconf_main_native.c b/apps/restconf/restconf_main_native.c
index 4c5e4e22..9cb6af8b 100644
--- a/apps/restconf/restconf_main_native.c
+++ b/apps/restconf/restconf_main_native.c
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <arpa/inet.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
 
 #include <openssl/ssl.h>
 #include <openssl/rand.h>
@@ -1448,6 +1449,21 @@ restconf_openssl_init(clicon_handle h,
 	    yang_spec_dump(clicon_dbspec_yang(h), dbg);
 	}
     }
+    if ((x = xpath_first(xrestconf, nsc, "enable-core-dump")) != NULL) {
+	/* core dump is enabled on RESTCONF process */
+	struct rlimit rlp;
+	if (strcmp(xml_body(x), "true") == 0) {
+	    rlp.rlim_cur = RLIM_INFINITY;
+	    rlp.rlim_max = RLIM_INFINITY;
+	} else {
+	    rlp.rlim_cur = 0;
+	    rlp.rlim_max = 0;
+	}
+	int status = setrlimit(RLIMIT_CORE, &rlp);
+	if (status != 0) {
+	    clicon_log(LOG_NOTICE, "%s: setrlimit() failed, %s", __func__, strerror(errno));
+	}
+    }
 
     if (init_openssl() < 0)
 	goto done;
diff --git a/yang/clixon/clixon-restconf@2021-03-15.yang b/yang/clixon/clixon-restconf@2021-03-15.yang
index 25ec9b21..ef0604da 100644
--- a/yang/clixon/clixon-restconf@2021-03-15.yang
+++ b/yang/clixon/clixon-restconf@2021-03-15.yang
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ module clixon-restconf {
 
     revision 2021-03-15 {
 	description
-	    "make authentication-type none a feature";
+	    "make authentication-type none a feature
+	     Added flag to enable core dumps";
     }
     revision 2020-12-30 {
 	description
@@ -127,6 +128,13 @@ module clixon-restconf {
 	    type uint32;
 	    default 0;
 	}
+	leaf enable-core-dump {
+	    description
+	        "enable core dumps.
+                 this is a no-op on systems that don't support it.";
+	    type boolean;
+	    default false;
+	}
 	leaf pretty {
 	    type boolean;
 	    default true;