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# Protected paths **(FREE SELF)**

Rate limiting is a technique that improves the security and durability of a web
application. For more details, see [Rate limits](../../../security/rate_limits.md).

You can rate limit (protect) specified paths. For these paths, GitLab responds with HTTP status
code `429` to POST requests at protected paths that exceed 10 requests per minute per IP address.

For example, the following are limited to a maximum 10 requests per minute:

- User sign-in
- User sign-up (if enabled)
- User password reset

After 10 requests, the client must wait 60 seconds before it can try again.

See also:

- List of paths [protected by default](../../../administration/instance_limits.md#by-protected-path).
- [User and IP rate limits](../../admin_area/settings/user_and_ip_rate_limits.md#response-headers)
  for the headers returned to blocked requests.

## Configure protected paths

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/31246) in GitLab 12.4.

Throttling of protected paths is enabled by default and can be disabled or
customized on **Admin > Network > Protected Paths**, along with these options:

- Maximum number of requests per period per user.
- Rate limit period in seconds.
- Paths to be protected.

![protected-paths](img/protected_paths.png)

Requests over the rate limit are logged into `auth.log`.