diff --git a/doc/modules/cassandra/pages/managing/operating/denylisting_partitions.adoc b/doc/modules/cassandra/pages/managing/operating/denylisting_partitions.adoc
index a81dc8009c35..a2f2e8d99158 100644
--- a/doc/modules/cassandra/pages/managing/operating/denylisting_partitions.adoc
+++ b/doc/modules/cassandra/pages/managing/operating/denylisting_partitions.adoc
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ partition key, the query will be immediately rejected with an `InvalidQueryExcep
 
 == How to denylist a partition key
 
+Denylisting partitions is disabled by default. To use this feature, enable it in the `cassandra.yaml` file.
+
+....
+partition_denylist_enabled: true
+....
+
+
 The ``system_distributed.denylisted_partitions`` table can be used to denylist partitions.
 There are a couple of ways to interact with and mutate this data. First: directly
 via CQL by inserting a record with the following details:
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
index 40b3d1fe828e..b051a4987294 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
@@ -3637,9 +3637,16 @@ public void initialLoadPartitionDenylist()
     @Override
     public void loadPartitionDenylist()
     {
+        checkPartitionDenylistEnabled();
         partitionDenylist.load();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean getPartitionDenylistEnabled()
+    {
+        return DatabaseDescriptor.getPartitionDenylistEnabled();
+    }
+
     @Override
     public int getPartitionDenylistLoadAttempts()
     {
@@ -3698,6 +3705,7 @@ public void setDenylistMaxKeysTotal(int value)
     @Override
     public boolean denylistKey(String keyspace, String table, String partitionKeyAsString)
     {
+        checkPartitionDenylistEnabled();
         if (!Schema.instance.getKeyspaces().contains(keyspace))
             return false;
 
@@ -3719,6 +3727,7 @@ public boolean denylistKey(String keyspace, String table, String partitionKeyAsS
     @Override
     public boolean removeDenylistKey(String keyspace, String table, String partitionKeyAsString)
     {
+        checkPartitionDenylistEnabled();
         if (!Schema.instance.getKeyspaces().contains(keyspace))
             return false;
 
@@ -3735,6 +3744,7 @@ public boolean removeDenylistKey(String keyspace, String table, String partition
      */
     public boolean isKeyDenylisted(String keyspace, String table, String partitionKeyAsString)
     {
+        checkPartitionDenylistEnabled();
         if (!Schema.instance.getKeyspaces().contains(keyspace))
             return false;
 
@@ -3746,6 +3756,12 @@ public boolean isKeyDenylisted(String keyspace, String table, String partitionKe
         return !partitionDenylist.isKeyPermitted(keyspace, table, bytes);
     }
 
+    private void checkPartitionDenylistEnabled() {
+        if (!getPartitionDenylistEnabled()) {
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Denylisting partitions is disabled");
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void logBlockingReadRepairAttemptsForNSeconds(int seconds)
     {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxyMBean.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxyMBean.java
index 1c4887f1e177..f174cb0cbd69 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxyMBean.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxyMBean.java
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ public interface StorageProxyMBean
     public int getOtcBacklogExpirationInterval();
 
     public void loadPartitionDenylist();
+    public boolean getPartitionDenylistEnabled();
     public int getPartitionDenylistLoadAttempts();
     public int getPartitionDenylistLoadSuccesses();
     public void setEnablePartitionDenylist(boolean enabled);
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/PartitionDenylistTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/PartitionDenylistTest.java
index e17dc2af1b54..358774fc65d3 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/PartitionDenylistTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/PartitionDenylistTest.java
@@ -448,6 +448,30 @@ public void testGlobalLimitRespected()
             confirmAllowed("table3", Integer.toString(i), Integer.toString(i));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testJmxThrowExcepitonWhenDenylistDisable() {
+        // Disable denylisting
+        DatabaseDescriptor.setPartitionDenylistEnabled(false);
+        // read and write work well
+        process("SELECT * FROM " + ks_cql + ".table1 WHERE keyone='aaa' and keytwo='bbb'", ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+        process("SELECT * FROM " + ks_cql + ".table1 WHERE keyone='bbb' and keytwo='ccc'", ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+        process("INSERT INTO " + ks_cql + ".table1 (keyone, keytwo, qux, quz, foo) VALUES ('eee', 'fff', 'ccc', 'ddd', 'v')", ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+        process("INSERT INTO " + ks_cql + ".table1 (keyone, keytwo, qux, quz, foo) VALUES ('bbb', 'ccc', 'eee', 'fff', 'w')", ConsistencyLevel.ONE);
+        // when denylisting is disabled, JMX operation will throw excepiton
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> denylist("table1", "foo:bar"))
+                            .isInstanceOf(UnsupportedOperationException.class)
+                            .hasMessageContaining("Denylisting partitions is disabled");
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> refreshList())
+                            .isInstanceOf(UnsupportedOperationException.class)
+                            .hasMessageContaining("Denylisting partitions is disabled");
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> removeDenylist(ks_cql, "table1", "foo:bar"))
+                            .isInstanceOf(UnsupportedOperationException.class)
+                            .hasMessageContaining("Denylisting partitions is disabled");
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> StorageProxy.instance.isKeyDenylisted(ks_cql, "table1", "bbb:ccc"))
+                            .isInstanceOf(UnsupportedOperationException.class)
+                            .hasMessageContaining("Denylisting partitions is disabled");
+    }
+
     private void confirmDenied(String table, String keyOne, String keyTwo)
     {
         String query = String.format("SELECT * FROM " + ks_cql + "." + table + " WHERE keyone='%s' and keytwo='%s'", keyOne, keyTwo);