diff --git a/android/config.go b/android/config.go
index f9d616d..3a4bf8c 100644
--- a/android/config.go
+++ b/android/config.go
@@ -167,7 +167,8 @@
 }
 
 // DisableHiddenApiChecks returns true if hiddenapi checks have been disabled.
-// For 'eng' target variant hiddenapi checks are disabled by default for performance optimisation,
+// For 'eng' target variant hiddenapi checks are disabled by default for performance optimisation
+// Hiddenapi checks are also disabled when RELEASE_DEFAULT_MODULE_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE is set to false
 // but can be enabled by setting environment variable ENABLE_HIDDENAPI_FLAGS=true.
 // For other target variants hiddenapi check are enabled by default but can be disabled by
 // setting environment variable UNSAFE_DISABLE_HIDDENAPI_FLAGS=true.
@@ -176,7 +177,8 @@
 func (c Config) DisableHiddenApiChecks() bool {
 	return !c.IsEnvTrue("ENABLE_HIDDENAPI_FLAGS") &&
 		(c.IsEnvTrue("UNSAFE_DISABLE_HIDDENAPI_FLAGS") ||
-			Bool(c.productVariables.Eng))
+			Bool(c.productVariables.Eng) ||
+			!c.ReleaseDefaultModuleBuildFromSource())
 }
 
 // MaxPageSizeSupported returns the max page size supported by the device. This
@@ -221,6 +223,13 @@
 	return c.config.productVariables.ReleaseAconfigFlagDefaultPermission
 }
 
+// The flag indicating behavior for the tree wrt building modules or using prebuilts
+// derived from RELEASE_DEFAULT_MODULE_BUILD_FROM_SOURCE
+func (c Config) ReleaseDefaultModuleBuildFromSource() bool {
+	return c.config.productVariables.ReleaseDefaultModuleBuildFromSource == nil ||
+		Bool(c.config.productVariables.ReleaseDefaultModuleBuildFromSource)
+}
+
 // A DeviceConfig object represents the configuration for a particular device
 // being built. For now there will only be one of these, but in the future there
 // may be multiple devices being built.
diff --git a/android/variable.go b/android/variable.go
index d33294c..79f585e 100644
--- a/android/variable.go
+++ b/android/variable.go
@@ -481,6 +481,8 @@
 
 	ReleaseAconfigFlagDefaultPermission string `json:",omitempty"`
 
+	ReleaseDefaultModuleBuildFromSource *bool `json:",omitempty"`
+
 	KeepVndk *bool `json:",omitempty"`
 
 	CheckVendorSeappViolations *bool `json:",omitempty"`