diff --git a/lib/refs/reftable-backend.c b/lib/refs/reftable-backend.c
index 212408c769..f4f202276a 100644
--- a/lib/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/lib/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -415,6 +415,8 @@ static struct ref_store *reftable_be_init(struct repository *repo,
 	struct strbuf path = STRBUF_INIT;
 	bool is_worktree;
 
+	reftable_set_alloc(malloc, realloc, free);
+
 	refs_compute_filesystem_location(gitdir, payload, &is_worktree, &refdir,
 					 &ref_common_dir);