diff --git a/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/operator_configuration_type.go b/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/operator_configuration_type.go
index 787a97253..0087e5850 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/operator_configuration_type.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/operator_configuration_type.go
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ type AWSGCPConfiguration struct {
 
 // OperatorDebugConfiguration defines options for the debug mode
 type OperatorDebugConfiguration struct {
-	DebugLogging   bool `json:"debug_logging,omitempty"`
-	EnableDBAccess bool `json:"enable_database_access,omitempty"`
+	DebugLogging   *bool `json:"debug_logging,omitempty"`
+	EnableDBAccess *bool `json:"enable_database_access,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // TeamsAPIConfiguration defines the configuration of TeamsAPI
diff --git a/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index da4a18626..3fdc31fa7 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ func (in *OperatorConfigurationData) DeepCopyInto(out *OperatorConfigurationData
 	out.Timeouts = in.Timeouts
 	in.LoadBalancer.DeepCopyInto(&out.LoadBalancer)
 	out.AWSGCP = in.AWSGCP
-	out.OperatorDebug = in.OperatorDebug
+	in.OperatorDebug.DeepCopyInto(&out.OperatorDebug)
 	in.TeamsAPI.DeepCopyInto(&out.TeamsAPI)
 	out.LoggingRESTAPI = in.LoggingRESTAPI
 	out.Scalyr = in.Scalyr
@@ -532,6 +532,16 @@ func (in *OperatorConfigurationList) DeepCopyObject() runtime.Object {
 // DeepCopyInto is an autogenerated deepcopy function, copying the receiver, writing into out. in must be non-nil.
 func (in *OperatorDebugConfiguration) DeepCopyInto(out *OperatorDebugConfiguration) {
 	*out = *in
+	if in.DebugLogging != nil {
+		in, out := &in.DebugLogging, &out.DebugLogging
+		*out = new(bool)
+		**out = **in
+	}
+	if in.EnableDBAccess != nil {
+		in, out := &in.EnableDBAccess, &out.EnableDBAccess
+		*out = new(bool)
+		**out = **in
+	}
 	return
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/controller/operator_config.go b/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
index 2b9cd9065..e304c14a5 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/operator_config.go
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ func (c *Controller) importConfigurationFromCRD(fromCRD *acidv1.OperatorConfigur
 	result.LogicalBackupMemoryLimit = fromCRD.LogicalBackup.MemoryLimit
 
 	// debug config
-	result.DebugLogging = fromCRD.OperatorDebug.DebugLogging
-	result.EnableDBAccess = fromCRD.OperatorDebug.EnableDBAccess
+	result.DebugLogging = *util.CoalesceBool(fromCRD.OperatorDebug.DebugLogging, util.True())
+	result.EnableDBAccess = *util.CoalesceBool(fromCRD.OperatorDebug.EnableDBAccess, util.True())
 
 	// Teams API config
 	result.EnableTeamsAPI = fromCRD.TeamsAPI.EnableTeamsAPI