diff --git a/sycl/CMakeLists.txt b/sycl/CMakeLists.txt
index 8823bc6ca870f..7dde4b4515322 100644
--- a/sycl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/sycl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
 option(SYCL_ENABLE_WERROR "Treat all warnings as errors in SYCL project" OFF)
+option(SYCL_DISABLE_STL_ASSERTIONS "Disable assertions in STL containers" OFF)
 option(SYCL_ADD_DEV_VERSION_POSTFIX "Adds -V postfix to version string" ON)
 
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules")
@@ -248,6 +249,17 @@ function( add_common_options LIB_NAME)
   endif()
 endfunction(add_common_options)
 
+
+if (LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS AND NOT SYCL_DISABLE_STL_ASSERTIONS)
+  if(SYCL_USE_LIBCXX)
+    add_definitions(-D_LIBCPP_DEBUG=1)
+    set(SYCL_CLANG_EXTRA_FLAGS "${SYCL_CLANG_EXTRA_FLAGS} -D_LIBCPP_DEBUG=1")
+  else()
+    add_definitions(-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS=1)
+    set(SYCL_CLANG_EXTRA_FLAGS "${SYCL_CLANG_EXTRA_FLAGS} -D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS=1")
+  endif()
+endif()
+
 set(SYCL_SOURCE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
 # SYCL runtime library
diff --git a/sycl/cmake/modules/AddSYCLExecutable.cmake b/sycl/cmake/modules/AddSYCLExecutable.cmake
index 31d7f032c9cea..e76e8dc2b8c48 100644
--- a/sycl/cmake/modules/AddSYCLExecutable.cmake
+++ b/sycl/cmake/modules/AddSYCLExecutable.cmake
@@ -19,10 +19,18 @@ macro(add_sycl_executable ARG_TARGET_NAME)
     list(APPEND LINKED_LIBS "${LIB_PREFIX}${_lib}${LIB_POSTFIX}")
   endforeach()
 
+  if (LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS AND NOT SYCL_DISABLE_STL_ASSERTIONS)
+    if(SYCL_USE_LIBCXX)
+      set(_SYCL_EXTRA_FLAGS -D_LIBCPP_DEBUG=1)
+    else()
+      set(_SYCL_EXTRA_FLAGS -D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS=1)
+    endif()
+  endif()
+
   add_custom_target(${ARG_TARGET_NAME}_exec ALL
     COMMAND ${DEVICE_COMPILER_EXECUTABLE} -fsycl ${ARG_SOURCES}
       -o ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${ARG_TARGET_NAME}
-      ${LINKED_LIBS} ${ARG_OPTIONS}
+      ${LINKED_LIBS} ${ARG_OPTIONS} ${_SYCL_EXTRA_FLAGS}
     BYPRODUCTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${ARG_TARGET_NAME}
     WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
     COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS)
diff --git a/sycl/test/lit.cfg.py b/sycl/test/lit.cfg.py
index 6d06bd29918af..bb27ad2ba8b92 100644
--- a/sycl/test/lit.cfg.py
+++ b/sycl/test/lit.cfg.py
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@
     config.available_features.add('linux')
     llvm_config.with_system_environment('LD_LIBRARY_PATH')
     llvm_config.with_environment('LD_LIBRARY_PATH', config.sycl_libs_dir, append_path=True)
+    llvm_config.with_system_environment('CFLAGS')
+    llvm_config.with_environment('CFLAGS', config.sycl_clang_extra_flags)
 
 elif platform.system() == "Windows":
     config.available_features.add('windows')
diff --git a/sycl/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in b/sycl/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
index a8d456eddd3b5..60f724e1c3ecf 100644
--- a/sycl/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
+++ b/sycl/test/lit.site.cfg.py.in
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ config.cuda_toolkit_include = "@CUDA_TOOLKIT_INCLUDE@"
 config.sycl_tools_src_dir = "@SYCL_TOOLS_SRC_DIR@"
 config.llvm_build_lib_dir = "@LLVM_BUILD_LIBRARY_DIRS@"
 config.llvm_build_bin_dir = "@LLVM_BUILD_BINARY_DIRS@"
+config.sycl_clang_extra_flags = "@SYCL_CLANG_EXTRA_FLAGS@"
 
 config.llvm_enable_projects = "@LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS@"