diff --git a/src/util/slab.c b/src/util/slab.c
index 1e778a12381..9dee236217b 100644
--- a/src/util/slab.c
+++ b/src/util/slab.c
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ slab_create_parent(struct slab_parent_pool *parent,
    parent->element_size = ALIGN_POT(sizeof(struct slab_element_header) + item_size,
                                     sizeof(intptr_t));
    parent->num_elements = num_items;
+   parent->item_size = item_size;
 }
 
 void
@@ -230,6 +231,18 @@ slab_alloc(struct slab_child_pool *pool)
    return &elt[1];
 }
 
+/**
+ * Same as slab_alloc but memset the returned object to 0.
+ */
+void *
+slab_zalloc(struct slab_child_pool *pool)
+{
+   void *r = slab_alloc(pool);
+   if (r)
+      memset(r, 0, pool->parent->item_size);
+   return r;
+}
+
 /**
  * Free an object allocated from the slab. Single-threaded (i.e. the caller
  * must ensure that no operation happens on the same child pool in another
diff --git a/src/util/slab.h b/src/util/slab.h
index 969b0ec5c65..f6dcbe5c98c 100644
--- a/src/util/slab.h
+++ b/src/util/slab.h
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ struct slab_parent_pool {
    simple_mtx_t mutex;
    unsigned element_size;
    unsigned num_elements;
+   unsigned item_size;
 };
 
 struct slab_child_pool {
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ void slab_create_child(struct slab_child_pool *pool,
                        struct slab_parent_pool *parent);
 void slab_destroy_child(struct slab_child_pool *pool);
 void *slab_alloc(struct slab_child_pool *pool);
+void *slab_zalloc(struct slab_child_pool *pool);
 void slab_free(struct slab_child_pool *pool, void *ptr);
 
 struct slab_mempool {