diff --git a/src/networking.c b/src/networking.c
index 80ef917738..d1c93447ae 100644
--- a/src/networking.c
+++ b/src/networking.c
@@ -1408,9 +1408,10 @@ void acceptCommonHandler(connection *conn, struct ClientFlags flags, char *ip) {
         return;
     }
 
-    if (port == server.admin_port && connIsLocal(conn) != 1) {
-        serverLog(LL_WARNING, "Denied connection. On admin-port, connections are"
-                              " only accepted from the loopback interface.");
+    if (port == server.admin_port && (connIsLocal(conn) != 1 ||
+        (listLength(server.clients) + getClusterConnectionsCount() >= server.maxclients + MAX_ADMIN_CLIENTS))) {
+        serverLog(LL_WARNING, "Denied connection. Max number of clients reached on admin-port or connection is not"
+                  " from the loopback interface.");
         server.stat_rejected_conn++;
         connClose(conn);
         return;
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index 4cbea99f24..a138bb0955 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ struct hdr_histogram;
 #define CONFIG_MIN_HZ 1
 #define CONFIG_MAX_HZ 500
 #define MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK 200 /* HZ is adapted based on that. */
+#define MAX_ADMIN_CLIENTS 20
 #define CRON_DBS_PER_CALL 16
 #define CRON_DICTS_PER_DB 16
 #define NET_MAX_WRITES_PER_EVENT (1024 * 64)