diff --git a/refs/reftable-backend.c b/refs/reftable-backend.c
index 64a71abb02..50a9379c58 100644
--- a/refs/reftable-backend.c
+++ b/refs/reftable-backend.c
@@ -377,6 +377,8 @@ static struct ref_store *reftable_be_init(struct repository *repo,
 	mask = umask(0);
 	umask(mask);
 
+	reftable_set_alloc(malloc, realloc, free);
+
 	refs_compute_filesystem_location(gitdir, payload, &is_worktree, &refdir,
 					 &ref_common_dir);