diff --git a/cmd/dockerd/daemon.go b/cmd/dockerd/daemon.go
index cdc76f93b9..a1d45c9dec 100644
--- a/cmd/dockerd/daemon.go
+++ b/cmd/dockerd/daemon.go
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ func (cli *DaemonCli) initMiddlewares(s *apiserver.Server, cfg *apiserver.Config
 	vm := middleware.NewVersionMiddleware(v, api.DefaultVersion, api.MinVersion)
 	s.UseMiddleware(vm)
 
-	if cfg.EnableCors {
+	if cfg.EnableCors || cfg.CorsHeaders != "" {
 		c := middleware.NewCORSMiddleware(cfg.CorsHeaders)
 		s.UseMiddleware(c)
 	}