diff --git a/infer/man/man1/infer-analyze.txt b/infer/man/man1/infer-analyze.txt
index 45a66a78b..2cdf6210e 100644
--- a/infer/man/man1/infer-analyze.txt
+++ b/infer/man/man1/infer-analyze.txt
@@ -439,6 +439,11 @@ RACERD CHECKER OPTIONS
            Activates: Check @GuardedBy annotations with RacerD (Conversely:
            --no-racerd-guardedby)
 
+       --racerd-unknown-returns-owned
+           Activates: Assume that all methods without a CFG (including
+           abstract methods) return owned objects (Conversely:
+           --no-racerd-unknown-returns-owned)
+
        --threadsafe-aliases json
            Specify custom annotations that should be considered aliases of
            @ThreadSafe
diff --git a/infer/man/man1/infer-full.txt b/infer/man/man1/infer-full.txt
index 2142a3485..6d79e1225 100644
--- a/infer/man/man1/infer-full.txt
+++ b/infer/man/man1/infer-full.txt
@@ -943,6 +943,11 @@ OPTIONS
            Activates: Enable --racerd and disable all other checkers
            (Conversely: --no-racerd-only)           See also infer-analyze(1).
 
+       --racerd-unknown-returns-owned
+           Activates: Assume that all methods without a CFG (including
+           abstract methods) return owned objects (Conversely:
+           --no-racerd-unknown-returns-owned)           See also infer-analyze(1).
+
        --reactive,-r
            Activates: Reactive mode: the analysis starts from the files
            captured since the infer command started (Conversely:
diff --git a/infer/man/man1/infer.txt b/infer/man/man1/infer.txt
index 3acfa0991..760412a1f 100644
--- a/infer/man/man1/infer.txt
+++ b/infer/man/man1/infer.txt
@@ -943,6 +943,11 @@ OPTIONS
            Activates: Enable --racerd and disable all other checkers
            (Conversely: --no-racerd-only)           See also infer-analyze(1).
 
+       --racerd-unknown-returns-owned
+           Activates: Assume that all methods without a CFG (including
+           abstract methods) return owned objects (Conversely:
+           --no-racerd-unknown-returns-owned)           See also infer-analyze(1).
+
        --reactive,-r
            Activates: Reactive mode: the analysis starts from the files
            captured since the infer command started (Conversely:
diff --git a/infer/src/base/Config.ml b/infer/src/base/Config.ml
index 6ef9ab726..005ffbaca 100644
--- a/infer/src/base/Config.ml
+++ b/infer/src/base/Config.ml
@@ -1999,6 +1999,12 @@ and racerd_guardedby =
     "Check @GuardedBy annotations with RacerD"
 
 
+and racerd_unknown_returns_owned =
+  CLOpt.mk_bool ~long:"racerd-unknown-returns-owned" ~default:false
+    ~in_help:InferCommand.[(Analyze, manual_racerd)]
+    "Assume that all methods without a CFG (including abstract methods) return owned objects"
+
+
 and reactive =
   CLOpt.mk_bool ~deprecated:["reactive"] ~long:"reactive" ~short:'r'
     ~in_help:InferCommand.[(Analyze, manual_generic)]
@@ -3123,6 +3129,8 @@ and racerd = !racerd
 
 and racerd_guardedby = !racerd_guardedby
 
+and racerd_unknown_returns_owned = !racerd_unknown_returns_owned
+
 and reactive_mode = !reactive
 
 and reactive_capture = !reactive_capture
diff --git a/infer/src/base/Config.mli b/infer/src/base/Config.mli
index d303580db..53463c767 100644
--- a/infer/src/base/Config.mli
+++ b/infer/src/base/Config.mli
@@ -572,6 +572,8 @@ val racerd : bool
 
 val racerd_guardedby : bool
 
+val racerd_unknown_returns_owned : bool
+
 val reactive_capture : bool
 
 val reactive_mode : bool
diff --git a/infer/src/concurrency/RacerD.ml b/infer/src/concurrency/RacerD.ml
index c56a35d25..c33634de0 100644
--- a/infer/src/concurrency/RacerD.ml
+++ b/infer/src/concurrency/RacerD.ml
@@ -177,8 +177,9 @@ module TransferFunctions (CFG : ProcCfg.S) = struct
     let open RacerDModels in
     let open RacerDDomain in
     let should_assume_returns_ownership callee_pname (call_flags : CallFlags.t) actuals =
+      Config.racerd_unknown_returns_owned
       (* non-interface methods with no summary and no parameters *)
-      ((not call_flags.cf_interface) && List.is_empty actuals)
+      || ((not call_flags.cf_interface) && List.is_empty actuals)
       || (* static [$Builder] creation methods *)
       creates_builder callee_pname
     in