diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 99eb2871a95e..201b3d9664e6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 5.0.7
+ * Optionally force IndexStatusManager to use the optimized index status format (CASSANDRA-21132) 
  * No need to evict already prepared statements, as it creates a race condition between multiple threads (CASSANDRA-17401)
  * Upgrade logback version to 1.5.18 and slf4j dependencies to 2.0.17 (CASSANDRA-21137)
  * Automatically disable zero-copy streaming for legacy sstables with old bloom filter format (CASSANDRA-21092)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
index 2c3d79183d49..9b16609154a6 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/Config.java
@@ -883,6 +883,13 @@ public static void setClientMode(boolean clientMode)
     public volatile boolean drop_keyspace_enabled = true;
     public volatile boolean secondary_indexes_enabled = true;
 
+    /**
+     * If we encounter a Gossip bug where {@link org.apache.cassandra.gms.Gossiper#getMinVersion} is
+     * unable to accurately report a minimum version for the cluster, optionally force the optimized
+     * index status format added in CASSANDRA-20058.
+     */
+    public volatile boolean force_optimized_index_status_format = false;
+
     public volatile String default_secondary_index = CassandraIndex.NAME;
     public volatile boolean default_secondary_index_enabled = true;
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
index 68be14cd8f70..3361385083f1 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java
@@ -5264,6 +5264,16 @@ public static void setPrioritizeSAIOverLegacyIndex(boolean value)
         conf.sai_options.prioritize_over_legacy_index = value;
     }
 
+    public static boolean getForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat()
+    {
+        return conf.force_optimized_index_status_format;
+    }
+
+    public static void setForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat(boolean value)
+    {
+        conf.force_optimized_index_status_format = value;
+    }
+
     public static RepairRetrySpec getRepairRetrySpec()
     {
         return conf == null ? new RepairRetrySpec() : conf.repair.retries;
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/index/IndexStatusManager.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/index/IndexStatusManager.java
index 6ba91beb7bcf..31036f2ec631 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/index/IndexStatusManager.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/index/IndexStatusManager.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import org.apache.cassandra.concurrent.ExecutorPlus;
+import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.ConsistencyLevel;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.Keyspace;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ReadFailureException;
@@ -249,6 +250,9 @@ public synchronized void propagateLocalIndexStatus(String keyspace, String index
 
     private static boolean shouldWriteLegacyStatusFormat(CassandraVersion minVersion)
     {
+        if (DatabaseDescriptor.getForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat())
+            return false;
+
         return minVersion == null || (minVersion.major == 5 && minVersion.minor == 0 && minVersion.patch < 3);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index a284fa27386e..0f178b00f08f 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -7675,6 +7675,18 @@ public void setPrioritizeSAIOverLegacyIndex(boolean value)
         DatabaseDescriptor.setPrioritizeSAIOverLegacyIndex(value);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean getForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat()
+    {
+        return DatabaseDescriptor.getForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void setForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat(boolean value)
+    {
+        DatabaseDescriptor.setForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat(value);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void setPaxosRepairRaceWait(boolean paxosRepairRaceWait)
     {
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
index b30929d180e2..875df369421b 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceMBean.java
@@ -1322,6 +1322,9 @@ public void enableAuditLog(String loggerName, String includedKeyspaces, String e
     boolean getPrioritizeSAIOverLegacyIndex();
     void setPrioritizeSAIOverLegacyIndex(boolean value);
 
+    boolean getForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat();
+    void setForceOptimizedIndexStatusFormat(boolean value);
+
     void setPaxosRepairRaceWait(boolean paxosRepairCoordinatorWait);
 
     boolean getPaxosRepairRaceWait();