diff --git a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_common.h b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_common.h
index df3311a08..e87d8a5b1 100644
--- a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_common.h
+++ b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_common.h
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ DECLARE_bool(memtable_whole_key_filtering);
 DECLARE_int32(open_files);
 DECLARE_int64(compressed_cache_size);
 DECLARE_int32(compaction_style);
+DECLARE_int32(num_levels);
 DECLARE_int32(level0_file_num_compaction_trigger);
 DECLARE_int32(level0_slowdown_writes_trigger);
 DECLARE_int32(level0_stop_writes_trigger);
diff --git a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_gflags.cc b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_gflags.cc
index 9dd00ef4d..dba582fe4 100644
--- a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_gflags.cc
+++ b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_gflags.cc
@@ -186,6 +186,9 @@ DEFINE_int64(compressed_cache_size, -1,
 DEFINE_int32(compaction_style, ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::Options().compaction_style,
              "");
 
+DEFINE_int32(num_levels, ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::Options().num_levels,
+             "Number of levels in the DB");
+
 DEFINE_int32(level0_file_num_compaction_trigger,
              ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE::Options().level0_file_num_compaction_trigger,
              "Level0 compaction start trigger");
diff --git a/tools/db_crashtest.py b/tools/db_crashtest.py
index bb9e758b0..a85cc480b 100644
--- a/tools/db_crashtest.py
+++ b/tools/db_crashtest.py
@@ -422,6 +422,12 @@ def whitebox_crash_main(args, unknown_args):
                 "ops_per_thread": cmd_params['ops_per_thread'],
                 "compaction_style": 1,
             }
+            # Single level universal has a lot of special logic. Ensure we cover
+            # it sometimes.
+            if random.randint(0, 1) == 1:
+                additional_opts.update({
+                    "num_levels": 1,
+                })
         elif check_mode == 2:
             # normal run with FIFO compaction mode
             # ops_per_thread is divided by 5 because FIFO compaction