diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 310e651373d..78e9ef71fb8 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 5.0.9
+ * Allow setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(0) to disable read-ahead buffer (CASSANDRA-21522)
  * Coordinator load-shedding returns OverloadedException without setting streamId, misrouting query responses (CASSANDRA-21508)
  * SAI Component Checksum Validation Should be Segment-Aware (CASSANDRA-21516)
  * Support Python 3.12 and 3.13 in cqlsh (CASSANDRA-20997)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
index bbf46f54757..306371acfde 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
@@ -2553,8 +2553,8 @@ public static int getCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKB()
 
     public static void setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(int sizeInKb)
     {
-        if (sizeInKb < 256)
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("compressed_read_ahead_buffer_size_in_kb must be at least 256KiB");
+        if (sizeInKb < 0 || (sizeInKb > 0 && sizeInKb < 256))
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("compressed_read_ahead_buffer_size_in_kb must be at least 256KiB (set to 0 to disable)");
 
         conf.compressed_read_ahead_buffer_size = createIntKibibyteBoundAndEnsureItIsValidForByteConversion(sizeInKb, "compressed_read_ahead_buffer_size");
     }
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptorTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptorTest.java
index 5ae7222a081..537f7c18e93 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptorTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptorTest.java
@@ -944,4 +944,28 @@ else if (mode == Config.DiskAccessMode.auto)
                 assertThat(DatabaseDescriptor.getCommitLogWriteDiskAccessMode()).isEqualTo(mode);
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSetCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb()
+    {
+        int original = DatabaseDescriptor.getCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKB();
+        try
+        {
+            // 0 should be a legal value, and represents disabling read-ahead buffer
+            DatabaseDescriptor.setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(0);
+            assertEquals(0, DatabaseDescriptor.getCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKB());
+            assertEquals(0, DatabaseDescriptor.getCompressedReadAheadBufferSize());
+
+            Assertions.assertThatThrownBy(() -> DatabaseDescriptor.setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(255))
+                      .isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+                      .hasMessage("compressed_read_ahead_buffer_size_in_kb must be at least 256KiB (set to 0 to disable)");
+
+            DatabaseDescriptor.setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(256);
+            assertEquals(256, DatabaseDescriptor.getCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKB());
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            DatabaseDescriptor.setCompressedReadAheadBufferSizeInKb(original);
+        }
+    }
 }