diff --git a/sys/vm/uma_core.c b/sys/vm/uma_core.c
index 5147899299e0..4009a1227cde 100644
--- a/sys/vm/uma_core.c
+++ b/sys/vm/uma_core.c
@@ -144,9 +144,16 @@ static int boot_pages;
 
 static struct sx uma_drain_lock;
 
-/* kmem soft limit. */
+/*
+ * kmem soft limit, initialized by uma_set_limit().  Ensure that early
+ * allocations don't trigger a wakeup of the reclaim thread.
+ */
 static unsigned long uma_kmem_limit = LONG_MAX;
+SYSCTL_ULONG(_vm, OID_AUTO, uma_kmem_limit, CTLFLAG_RD, &uma_kmem_limit, 0,
+    "UMA kernel memory soft limit");
 static unsigned long uma_kmem_total;
+SYSCTL_ULONG(_vm, OID_AUTO, uma_kmem_total, CTLFLAG_RD, &uma_kmem_total, 0,
+    "UMA kernel memory usage");
 
 /* Is the VM done starting up? */
 static enum { BOOT_COLD = 0, BOOT_STRAPPED, BOOT_PAGEALLOC, BOOT_BUCKETS,