diff --git a/include/maxscale/listener.hh b/include/maxscale/listener.hh
index f890d3af7..63ad66282 100644
--- a/include/maxscale/listener.hh
+++ b/include/maxscale/listener.hh
@@ -186,6 +186,16 @@ public:
         return m_type;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Mark authentication as failed
+     *
+     * This updates the number of failures that have occurred from this host. If the number of authentications
+     * exceeds a certain value, any attempts to connect from the remote in quesion will be rejected.
+     *
+     * @param remote The address where the connection originated
+     */
+    void mark_auth_as_failed(const std::string& remote);
+
     // Functions that are temporarily public
     bool          create_listener_config(const char* filename);
     struct users* users() const;
diff --git a/server/core/listener.cc b/server/core/listener.cc
index 53edaac57..da5963928 100644
--- a/server/core/listener.cc
+++ b/server/core/listener.cc
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <chrono>
 #include <list>
 #include <memory>
 #include <mutex>
@@ -40,6 +41,9 @@
 #include "internal/modules.hh"
 #include "internal/session.hh"
 
+using Clock = std::chrono::steady_clock;
+using std::chrono::seconds;
+
 static std::list<SListener> all_listeners;
 static std::mutex listener_lock;
 
@@ -47,6 +51,56 @@ static RSA* rsa_512 = NULL;
 static RSA* rsa_1024 = NULL;
 static RSA* tmp_rsa_callback(SSL* s, int is_export, int keylength);
 
+// TODO: Make these configurable
+constexpr int MAX_FAILURES = 25;
+constexpr int BLOCK_TIME = 60;
+
+namespace
+{
+class RateLimit
+{
+public:
+    void auth_failed(const std::string& remote)
+    {
+        auto& u = m_failures[remote];
+        u.last_failure = Clock::now();
+        u.failures++;
+    }
+
+    bool is_blocked(const std::string& remote)
+    {
+        bool rval = false;
+        auto it = m_failures.find(remote);
+
+        if (it != m_failures.end())
+        {
+            auto& u = it->second;
+
+            if (Clock::now() - u.last_failure > seconds(BLOCK_TIME))
+            {
+                u.last_failure = Clock::now();
+                u.failures = 0;
+            }
+
+            rval = u.failures >= MAX_FAILURES;
+        }
+
+        return rval;
+    }
+
+private:
+    struct Failure
+    {
+        Clock::time_point last_failure = Clock::now();
+        uint32_t          failures = 0;
+    };
+
+    std::unordered_map<std::string, Failure> m_failures;
+};
+
+thread_local RateLimit rate_limit;
+}
+
 Listener::Listener(SERVICE* service, const std::string& name, const std::string& address,
                    uint16_t port, const std::string& protocol, const std::string& authenticator,
                    const std::string& auth_opts, void* auth_instance, SSL_LISTENER* ssl)
@@ -968,6 +1022,12 @@ static ClientConn accept_one_connection(int fd)
         }
 
         configure_network_socket(conn.fd, conn.addr.ss_family);
+
+        if (rate_limit.is_blocked(conn.host))
+        {
+            close(conn.fd);
+            conn.fd = -1;
+        }
     }
     else if (errno != EAGAIN && errno != EWOULDBLOCK)
     {
@@ -1177,3 +1237,8 @@ void Listener::accept_connections()
         }
     }
 }
+
+void Listener::mark_auth_as_failed(const std::string& remote)
+{
+    rate_limit.auth_failed(remote);
+}
diff --git a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbclient/mysql_client.cc b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbclient/mysql_client.cc
index 8bbafda32..9caf6aed0 100644
--- a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbclient/mysql_client.cc
+++ b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbclient/mysql_client.cc
@@ -818,6 +818,8 @@ static int gw_read_do_authentication(DCB* dcb, GWBUF* read_buffer, int nbytes_re
     {
         protocol->protocol_auth_state = MXS_AUTH_STATE_FAILED;
         mysql_client_auth_error_handling(dcb, auth_val, next_sequence);
+        mxb_assert(dcb->session->listener);
+        dcb->session->listener->mark_auth_as_failed(dcb->remote);
         /**
          * Close DCB and which will release MYSQL_session
          */