diff --git a/spark/src/main/resources/error/delta-error-classes.json b/spark/src/main/resources/error/delta-error-classes.json
index b40bdb3954e..041f274740a 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/resources/error/delta-error-classes.json
+++ b/spark/src/main/resources/error/delta-error-classes.json
@@ -869,6 +869,13 @@
     ],
     "sqlState" : "42K03"
   },
+  "DELTA_ENABLING_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOWED_WHEN_COLUMN_MAPPING_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS" : {
+    "message" : [
+      "Enabling column mapping when column mapping metadata is already present in schema is not supported.",
+      "To use column mapping, create a new table and reload the data into it."
+    ],
+    "sqlState" : "XXKDS"
+  },
   "DELTA_EXCEED_CHAR_VARCHAR_LIMIT" : {
     "message" : [
       "Value \"<value>\" exceeds char/varchar type length limitation. Failed check: <expr>."
diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMapping.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMapping.scala
index b893d25f3cf..cf3b9493599 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMapping.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMapping.scala
@@ -174,6 +174,18 @@ trait DeltaColumnMappingBase extends DeltaLogging {
       }
     }
 
+    // If column mapping was disabled, but there was already column mapping in the schema, it is
+    // a result of a bug in the previous version of Delta. This should no longer happen with the
+    // stripping done above. For existing tables with this issue, we should not allow enabling
+    // column mapping, to prevent further corruption.
+    if (spark.conf.get(DeltaSQLConf.
+        DELTA_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOW_ENABLING_WHEN_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS)) {
+      if (oldMappingMode == NoMapping && newMappingMode != NoMapping &&
+          schemaHasColumnMappingMetadata(oldMetadata.schema)) {
+        throw DeltaErrors.enablingColumnMappingDisallowedWhenColumnMappingMetadataAlreadyExists()
+      }
+    }
+
     updatedMetadata = updateColumnMappingMetadata(
       oldMetadata, updatedMetadata, isChangingModeOnExistingTable, isOverwriteSchema)
 
diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaErrors.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaErrors.scala
index 386d66caa60..65f15dc251f 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaErrors.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaErrors.scala
@@ -2126,6 +2126,12 @@ trait DeltaErrorsBase
       messageParameters = Array(oldMode, newMode))
   }
 
+  def enablingColumnMappingDisallowedWhenColumnMappingMetadataAlreadyExists(): Throwable = {
+    new DeltaColumnMappingUnsupportedException(
+      errorClass =
+        "DELTA_ENABLING_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOWED_WHEN_COLUMN_MAPPING_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS")
+  }
+
   def generateManifestWithColumnMappingNotSupported: Throwable = {
     new DeltaColumnMappingUnsupportedException(
       errorClass = "DELTA_UNSUPPORTED_MANIFEST_GENERATION_WITH_COLUMN_MAPPING")
diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/sources/DeltaSQLConf.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/sources/DeltaSQLConf.scala
index ab8b8d6cb43..25b5eac3866 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/sources/DeltaSQLConf.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/sources/DeltaSQLConf.scala
@@ -1953,6 +1953,18 @@ trait DeltaSQLConfBase {
       .booleanConf
       .createWithDefault(true)
 
+  val DELTA_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOW_ENABLING_WHEN_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS =
+    buildConf("columnMapping.disallowEnablingWhenColumnMappingMetadataAlreadyExists")
+      .doc(
+        """
+          |If Delta table already has column mapping metadata before the feature is enabled, it is
+          |as a result of a corruption or a bug. Enabling column mapping in such a case can lead to
+          |further corruption of the table and should be disallowed.
+          |""".stripMargin)
+      .internal()
+      .booleanConf
+      .createWithDefault(true)
+
   val DYNAMIC_PARTITION_OVERWRITE_ENABLED =
     buildConf("dynamicPartitionOverwrite.enabled")
       .doc("Whether to overwrite partitions dynamically when 'partitionOverwriteMode' is set to " +
diff --git a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMappingSuite.scala b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMappingSuite.scala
index 6504c8943e6..411a7c2a7dc 100644
--- a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMappingSuite.scala
+++ b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaColumnMappingSuite.scala
@@ -2106,4 +2106,49 @@ class DeltaColumnMappingSuite extends QueryTest
         s"Supported modes are: $supportedModes"))
     }
   }
+
+  test("enabling column mapping disallowed if column mapping metadata already exists") {
+    withSQLConf(
+      // enabling this fixes the issue of committing invalid metadata in the first place
+      DeltaSQLConf.DELTA_COLUMN_MAPPING_STRIP_METADATA.key -> "false"
+    ) {
+      withTempDir { dir =>
+        val path = dir.getCanonicalPath
+        val deltaLog = DeltaLog.forTable(spark, path)
+        deltaLog.withNewTransaction(catalogTableOpt = None) { txn =>
+          val schema =
+            new StructType().add("id", IntegerType, true, withIdAndPhysicalName(0, "col-0"))
+          val metadata = actions.Metadata(
+            name = "test_table",
+            schemaString = schema.json,
+            configuration = Map(DeltaConfigs.COLUMN_MAPPING_MODE.key -> NoMapping.name)
+          )
+          txn.updateMetadata(metadata)
+          txn.commit(Seq.empty, DeltaOperations.ManualUpdate)
+
+          // Enabling the config will disallow enabling column mapping.
+          withSQLConf(DeltaSQLConf
+            .DELTA_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOW_ENABLING_WHEN_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS.key
+            -> "true") {
+            val e = intercept[DeltaColumnMappingUnsupportedException] {
+              alterTableWithProps(
+                s"delta.`$path`",
+                Map(DeltaConfigs.COLUMN_MAPPING_MODE.key -> NameMapping.name))
+            }
+            assert(e.getErrorClass ==
+            "DELTA_ENABLING_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOWED_WHEN_COLUMN_MAPPING_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS")
+          }
+
+          // Disabling the config will allow enabling column mapping.
+          withSQLConf(DeltaSQLConf
+              .DELTA_COLUMN_MAPPING_DISALLOW_ENABLING_WHEN_METADATA_ALREADY_EXISTS.key
+            -> "false") {
+            alterTableWithProps(
+              s"delta.`$path`",
+              Map(DeltaConfigs.COLUMN_MAPPING_MODE.key -> NameMapping.name))
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }