diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index b8b2a003b..162567f9f 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ ver 0.22.2 (not yet released)
     on update
 * input
   - qobuz/tidal: fix protocol errors due to newlines in error messages
+  - smbclient: disable by default due to libsmbclient crash bug
 * playlist
   - soundcloud: fix protocol errors due to newlines in error messages
 * state_file: save on shutdown
diff --git a/doc/plugins.rst b/doc/plugins.rst
index e5056a7ab..107140942 100644
--- a/doc/plugins.rst
+++ b/doc/plugins.rst
@@ -71,6 +71,11 @@ Load music files from a SMB/CIFS server. It is used when
 :code:`music_directory` contains a ``smb://`` URI, for example
 :samp:`smb://myfileserver/Music`.
 
+Note that :file:`libsmbclient` has a serious bug which causes MPD to
+crash, and therefore this plugin is disabled by default and should not
+be used until the bug is fixed:
+https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11413
+
 nfs
 ---
 
diff --git a/doc/user.rst b/doc/user.rst
index 00ef9bdeb..db87ee7d0 100644
--- a/doc/user.rst
+++ b/doc/user.rst
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ For example, the following installs a fairly complete list of build dependencies
       libpulse-dev libshout3-dev \
       libsndio-dev \
       libmpdclient-dev \
-      libnfs-dev libsmbclient-dev \
+      libnfs-dev \
       libupnp-dev \
       libavahi-client-dev \
       libsqlite3-dev \
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index a1c5ec1ed..36214692d 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -92,7 +92,11 @@ option('cdio_paranoia', type: 'feature', description: 'libcdio_paranoia input pl
 option('curl', type: 'feature', description: 'HTTP client using CURL')
 option('mms', type: 'feature', description: 'MMS protocol support using libmms')
 option('nfs', type: 'feature', description: 'NFS protocol support using libnfs')
-option('smbclient', type: 'feature', description: 'SMB support using libsmbclient')
+
+# The "smbclient" plugin is disabled by default because libsmbclient
+# has a serious bug which crashes MPD very quickly:
+# https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11413
+option('smbclient', type: 'feature', value: 'disabled', description: 'SMB support using libsmbclient')
 
 #
 # Commercial services