diff --git a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
index 412e33b4d8b..6fb3c40da8d 100755
--- a/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
+++ b/hack/local-up-cluster.sh
@@ -90,8 +90,9 @@ AUTH_ARGS=${AUTH_ARGS:-""}
 # Install a default storage class (enabled by default)
 DEFAULT_STORAGE_CLASS=${KUBE_DEFAULT_STORAGE_CLASS:-true}
 
-# start the cache mutation detector by default so that cache mutators will be found
-KUBE_CACHE_MUTATION_DETECTOR="${KUBE_CACHE_MUTATION_DETECTOR:-true}"
+# Do not run the mutation detector by default on a local cluster.
+# It is intended for a specific type of testing and inherently leaks memory.
+KUBE_CACHE_MUTATION_DETECTOR="${KUBE_CACHE_MUTATION_DETECTOR:-false}"
 export KUBE_CACHE_MUTATION_DETECTOR
 
 # panic the server on watch decode errors since they are considered coder mistakes
@@ -1037,4 +1038,4 @@ if [[ "${KUBETEST_IN_DOCKER:-}" == "true" ]]; then
   cluster/kubectl.sh config set-credentials myself --client-key=/var/run/kubernetes/client-admin.key --client-certificate=/var/run/kubernetes/client-admin.crt
   cluster/kubectl.sh config set-context local --cluster=local --user=myself
   cluster/kubectl.sh config use-context local
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+fi
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache/mutation_detector.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache/mutation_detector.go
index 8e6338a1ba7..e2aa4484840 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache/mutation_detector.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache/mutation_detector.go
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/golang/glog"
+
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/diff"
 )
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ func NewCacheMutationDetector(name string) CacheMutationDetector {
 	if !mutationDetectionEnabled {
 		return dummyMutationDetector{}
 	}
+	glog.Warningln("Mutation detector is enabled, this will result in memory leakage.")
 	return &defaultCacheMutationDetector{name: name, period: 1 * time.Second}
 }