diff --git a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
index cb4f64006d..a7d2bb61ab 100644
--- a/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake_targets/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -353,6 +353,10 @@ set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_DEBUG "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -g3 -O0 -DMALLOC_CHECK_=3")
 set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -g3 -DMALLOC_CHECK_=3 -O2 -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks")
 set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELEASE "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS}  -O3")
 
+# Enable assert() for RelWithDebInfo builds
+string(REPLACE "-DNDEBUG" "" CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO}")
+string(REPLACE "-DNDEBUG" "" CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO}")
+
 set(GIT_BRANCH        "UNKNOWN")
 set(GIT_COMMIT_HASH   "UNKNOWN")
 set(GIT_COMMIT_DATE   "UNKNOWN")