diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 66132a2..a641f4b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@ All notable changes to FastSync are documented here. Versions match
 `PROTOCOL_VERSION` (printed by `fastsync --version`); the client and server must
 run the same version because the handshake is strict.
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Security
+
+- Enforce the daemon's per-module `max connections` cap and add a global
+  `max connections per host` cap plus a cross-process `auth lockout`
+  (`auth lockout threshold` / `auth lockout duration`). Because the listener
+  forks one child per connection, the counters live in an anonymous shared
+  mapping created before the accept loop and reclaimed by the parent's
+  `SIGCHLD` handler, so the per-module, per-source and auth-failure state is
+  shared across every child (including after `SIGKILL`).
+
 ## [2.20.0] - 2026-09-13
 
 ### Security
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9820885..58d0d10 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -506,18 +506,27 @@ defaults to the current directory. |
 implicit global section, then `[module]` sections). Besides `port`, `motd file`,
 and `address`, the global section accepts:
 
-- `max connections = N` — cap on concurrent connections, default 100. The
+- `max connections = N` — global cap on concurrent connections, default 100. The
   listener enforces it; `0`, negative, and non-numeric values are parse errors.
+- `max connections per host = N` — cap on concurrent connections from a single
+  source IP, default 0 (unlimited). Enforced across all forked connection
+  children through a shared registry.
 - `auth failure delay = MS` — milliseconds to sleep after a failed
   authentication, default 500. `0` disables it and the value is capped at 60000,
   so online password guessing is rate-limited per connection. Successful auths
   are never delayed.
+- `auth lockout threshold = N` — number of failed authentications from one source
+  IP before that source is locked out, default 10; `0` disables the lockout. The
+  failure counter is shared across every connection child, so the lockout holds
+  even when the next attempt is handled by a different forked child.
+- `auth lockout duration = SECONDS` — how long a locked-out source is refused
+  (default 300). A locked-out client is refused before any SCRAM challenge is
+  sent; a successful authentication clears the counter.
 - `hosts allow` / `hosts deny` — comma- and/or whitespace-separated host access
   patterns.
 
-A `[module]` may also set `max connections` (parsed and validated but not
-enforced per module — the global cap applies to the whole listener) and its own
-`hosts allow`/`hosts deny`.
+A `[module]` may also set `max connections` (0 = unlimited; enforced per module
+across all connection children) and its own `hosts allow`/`hosts deny`.
 
 Host patterns are `*` (match all), IPv4/IPv6 literals, or IPv4/IPv6 CIDR
 (`10.0.0.0/8`, `2001:db8::/32`). Hostnames are not resolved, so hostname globs
diff --git a/RSYNC_COMPAT.md b/RSYNC_COMPAT.md
index ea171bc..f0d4ba2 100644
--- a/RSYNC_COMPAT.md
+++ b/RSYNC_COMPAT.md
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@ now transmits targets (the prior behavior was broken/partial); its status moved
 |------|-------------------|-----------------|-------|
 | `--daemon` | Run as rsync daemon | ✅ Implemented | Wave A: a real persistent listener. `fastsync-server --daemon --config FILE` (plus `--no-detach` to stay foreground; without it the listener detaches to the background after binding) reads a FastSync-native module config file and serves each connection confined to the requested module's `path` root (never a client-chosen root; every client-chosen-ownership/super-user request (`--numeric-ids`/`--chown`/`--usermap`/`--groupmap`/`--fake-super`/`--copy-as`/explicit `--super`) is refused unless the module opts in with `client owner = yes`, and the operator `--no-super` veto is honored). TCP/TLS via the existing `--tls` stack; plaintext still requires `--allow-unauthenticated` (same secure default as the standalone server). Client destinations use rsync's `host::module/path` form. Wire/protocol: the config frame gained a trailing daemon-module string and `PROTOCOL_VERSION` was bumped **2.14.0 → 2.15.0** (see the Daemon Mode notes below). Daemon mode is built in FastSync's own protocol/config grammar, not rsync's SMB/daemon option encoding |
 | `--config=FILE` | Alternate rsyncd.conf file | ✅ Implemented | Wave A: selects the daemon config file. Default when omitted (in `--daemon` mode): `~/.config/fastsync/fastsyncd.conf` if it exists, else `/etc/fastsyncd.conf`. The grammar is FastSync-native (documented in the Daemon Mode notes below) and strictly rejects unknown keys so a typo can never silently change what a module serves; requires `--daemon` |
-| `--dparam=OVERRIDE` | Override global daemon config | ✅ Implemented | Wave A: overrides one global scalar from the command line (`--dparam port=8734` and `--dparam=KEY=VALUE` both work). Limited to the global keys the grammar defines (`port`, `motd file`, `address`, `max connections`, `auth failure delay`, `hosts allow`, `hosts deny`); keys are case-insensitive and unknown keys/invalid values are rejected. Requires `--daemon` |
+| `--dparam=OVERRIDE` | Override global daemon config | ✅ Implemented | Wave A: overrides one global scalar from the command line (`--dparam port=8734` and `--dparam=KEY=VALUE` both work). Limited to the global keys the grammar defines (`port`, `motd file`, `address`, `max connections`, `max connections per host`, `auth failure delay`, `auth lockout threshold`, `auth lockout duration`, `hosts allow`, `hosts deny`); keys are case-insensitive and unknown keys/invalid values are rejected. Requires `--daemon` |
 | `--no-detach` | Don't detach from parent | ✅ Implemented | Wave A: with `--daemon`, keeps the listener in the foreground (what integration tests use). Without it the daemonizes (fork/setsid, stdio redirected to /dev/null) after the listening socket is bound. Requires `--daemon` |
 | `--password-file=FILE` | Read daemon password from file | ✅ Implemented | A7 daemon auth. Client: `--password-file` supplies `user:password` for a `host::module/path` destination (the username is taken from this file, so `user@host::module` stays rejected); the literal password is held client-side only for the SCRAM handshake and wiped at teardown. Server (`fastsync-server --daemon --password-file FILE`): the salted-PBKDF2 verifier store that modules with `auth users` are verified against. **Neither the password nor any replayable bearer value crosses the wire or is stored server-side** — the store holds a per-user salt plus derived keys, and the daemon proves the secret with a per-connection nonce challenge. The file must be private to its owner: both the client and server verify the exact inode they read (open-then-`fstat`, so the check cannot be raced) and refuse a `--password-file`/`--early-input` that is not owned by the current user or grants any group/other permission bit (mode 0600), mirroring the TLS private-key check. A process-substitution pipe (`--early-input <(vault ...)`) is still accepted when it satisfies those checks. See the Daemon Mode notes below for the file formats and the plaintext/TLS caveat |
 | `--early-input=FILE` | Use FILE for daemon early exec | ✅ Implemented | Server-only (requires `--daemon`): a second credential-store file, same new-format grammar as `--password-file`, read before the listener accepts connections (a secrets-manager / process-substitution source). Its entries layer over `--password-file`: byte-identical verifiers dedupe, a conflicting verifier for the same user is a startup error. A daemon whose modules declare `auth users` must be given at least one of the two, or it refuses to start (fail closed) |
@@ -635,9 +635,9 @@ now transmits targets (the prior behavior was broken/partial); its status moved
 
 **Daemon Mode notes (Wave A protocol 2.15.0; A7 auth protocol 2.19.0; MOTD no bump):** FastSync daemon mode is supported in FastSync's own protocol/config grammar, not rsync's SMB/daemon option encoding.
 
-- **Config grammar** (`fastsyncd.conf`): line-based; an implicit global section first, then `[module]` sections. Keys are case-insensitive, values are trimmed and may be wrapped in one layer of double quotes (`path = "/srv/my dir"`). `#` and `;` at the start of a line (after leading whitespace) are full-line comments; inline comments and `\` continuations are not supported. Lines are bounded (4096 chars). Global keys: `port` (default 873), `motd file` (the daemon sends its bounded, escaped content to a client after the module gate/auth accepts, unless the client passes `--no-motd`), `address` (optional bind address), `max connections` (positive integer cap on concurrent connections, default 100; 0/negative/garbage is a parse error), `auth failure delay` (milliseconds to sleep after a failed authentication, default 500; 0 disables, capped at 5000), `hosts allow` and `hosts deny` (comma- and/or whitespace-separated host access patterns — see the host access control note below). Module keys: `path` (required; the daemon-side authorized root for that module), `read only` (yes/no/true/false/1/0, default no), `client owner` (yes/no/true/false/1/0, default no; opts the module into client-chosen ownership — see below), `auth users` (comma list), `max connections` (optional per-module cap; parsed and stored but **not enforced** — the global cap applies to the whole listener), `hosts allow`/`hosts deny` (per-module host access lists). **Unknown keys and malformed lines are parse-and-reject errors** (never silently ignored), so a typo cannot change what a module serves.
+- **Config grammar** (`fastsyncd.conf`): line-based; an implicit global section first, then `[module]` sections. Keys are case-insensitive, values are trimmed and may be wrapped in one layer of double quotes (`path = "/srv/my dir"`). `#` and `;` at the start of a line (after leading whitespace) are full-line comments; inline comments and `\` continuations are not supported. Lines are bounded (4096 chars), and at most 256 `[module]` sections are accepted. Global keys: `port` (default 873), `motd file` (the daemon sends its bounded, escaped content to a client after the module gate/auth accepts, unless the client passes `--no-motd`), `address` (optional bind address), `max connections` (positive integer cap on concurrent connections, default 100; 0/negative/garbage is a parse error), `max connections per host` (concurrent-connection cap per source IP, default 0 = unlimited), `auth failure delay` (milliseconds to sleep after a failed authentication, default 500; 0 disables, capped at 5000), `auth lockout threshold` (failed authentications from one source before lockout, default 10; 0 disables), `auth lockout duration` (seconds a locked-out source is refused, default 300), `hosts allow` and `hosts deny` (comma- and/or whitespace-separated host access patterns — see the host access control note below). Module keys: `path` (required; the daemon-side authorized root for that module), `read only` (yes/no/true/false/1/0, default no), `client owner` (yes/no/true/false/1/0, default no; opts the module into client-chosen ownership — see below), `auth users` (comma list), `max connections` (optional per-module cap, 0 = unlimited; enforced across all connection children), `hosts allow`/`hosts deny` (per-module host access lists). **Unknown keys and malformed lines are parse-and-reject errors** (never silently ignored), so a typo cannot change what a module serves.
 - **Host access control (`hosts allow`/`hosts deny`):** both keys accept a comma- and/or whitespace-separated list of patterns and may appear globally and/or per module (multiple config-file lines append; a `--dparam` override replaces). Supported patterns are `*` (match all), an IPv4 or IPv6 literal (`10.0.0.1`, `2001:db8::1`), and an IPv4/IPv6 CIDR (`10.0.0.0/8`, `2001:db8::/32`). Hostname patterns are **not** supported: because the peer is always a numeric address and no reverse DNS is performed, a hostname/glob pattern would silently never match, so it is rejected at load time (fail-closed) instead of being accepted as a dead rule. An IPv4 peer on a dual-stack IPv6 listener is normalized from its `::ffff:a.b.c.d` form so IPv4 patterns match it. rsync-like semantics: a matching `hosts deny` rejects; if any `hosts allow` entries exist, a peer matching none of them is rejected; deny takes precedence over allow. The daemon enforces the global list first, then the selected module's list, **before authentication** in `server_module_gate`, with an audit log line naming the peer, the module and the outcome. The numeric peer address is obtained with `getpeername`+`inet_ntop` (`utils_fd_peer_ip`, handling both address families); when it cannot be obtained a module with any ACL fails closed (refused), while an ACL-free module continues and logs at debug. A malformed pattern (e.g. an out-of-range CIDR prefix) is a parse error at load time.
-- **Connection cap and auth throttle:** the global `max connections` key (default 100) is plumbed into the listener (`transport_tcp.c`), which rejects a connection once the accept-loop parent's active-child count reaches it; the IPv4/IPv6 peer is logged for every accepted connection. The optional per-module `max connections` key is parsed and validated but **not enforced** (connections are counted in the parent before the client's module is known); the daemon logs a startup warning for any module that sets it. On a failed authentication the per-connection child sleeps the global `auth failure delay` (default 500 ms, 0 disables, capped at 5000) via `nanosleep` before the connection closes, rate-limiting online guessing without delaying a success.
+- **Connection caps, shared registry and auth lockout:** the global `max connections` key (default 100) is plumbed into the listener (`transport_tcp.c`), which rejects a connection once the accept-loop parent's active-child count reaches it; the IPv4/IPv6 peer is logged for every accepted connection. Because the listener forks one child per connection, the per-module `max connections` cap, the global `max connections per host` cap, and the auth-failure counter live in a fixed-size registry carved from an anonymous shared mapping (`daemon_limits.c`, `mmap(MAP_SHARED|MAP_ANONYMOUS)`) created by the parent before the accept loop, so every forked child shares the same counters (C11 atomics only — never a pthread lock, which can deadlock in a forked child). The parent reserves a registry slot per accepted connection and the child records the selected module and source IP once known; the parent's `SIGCHLD` handler reclaims the slot when the child dies (including `SIGKILL`), decrementing the per-module and per-source counts. The per-module cap (0 = unlimited) is enforced after the module lookup and before auth; per-source identity reuses the normalized numeric peer address (`utils_fd_peer_ip`, IPv4-mapped IPv6 collapsed to IPv4). A failed authentication increments the shared per-source failure count and, once `auth lockout threshold` (default 10; 0 disables) is reached, the source is refused for `auth lockout duration` seconds (default 300) before any challenge is sent, even when the next attempt is handled by a different forked child; a successful authentication clears the counter. On a failed authentication the per-connection child still sleeps the global `auth failure delay` (default 500 ms, 0 disables, capped at 5000) via `nanosleep`, rate-limiting online guessing without delaying a success. A missing registry (allocation failure) degrades to the global cap and host ACLs rather than refusing to start.
 - **Module selection & confinement:** the client requests a module with an rsync-style `host::module[/path]` destination. The module name crosses the wire as a trailing string on the config frame (bumping `PROTOCOL_VERSION` 2.14.0 → 2.15.0; the bump is required because the config-frame layout changed and the strict same-version handshake is what prevents a peer from desynchronizing on the new trailing field). The daemon looks the module up in ITS OWN config and uses the module's `path` as the authorized root through the exact same `configure_authorization` confinement the standalone server applies to `--destination-root` (`file_open_secure_parent`, `has_path_traversal`, `path_is_within`); the client never supplies the root, every client-chosen-ownership/super-user request is refused unless the module declares `client owner = yes` (the daemon's per-module opt-in, see below), and the operator `--no-super` veto forces super-user activities off for every daemon connection. The client's `/path` part is relative inside the module and is rejected if absolute or if it contains `..`. Unknown modules are refused before any data moves (the run fails cleanly at the config handshake). An absolute destination and a module request against a non-daemon server are also refused.
 - **`client owner` (client-chosen-ownership opt-in):** by default a daemon module refuses every request that would let the client pick an owner or ask for super-user activities — `--numeric-ids`, `--chown`, `--usermap`/`--groupmap`, `--fake-super`, `--copy-as`, and an explicit `--super` — at the config handshake (before `STATUS_OK`), because a daemon has no per-module opt-in for client-chosen ownership and any anonymous client could otherwise force arbitrary owner ids inside the module root. `client owner = yes` opts a single module in, allowing those requests within that module's root (the standalone listener and the SSH `--stdio` server always honor them for their single operator-authorized root). Without the opt-in the daemon also forces super-user **device** activity off for that connection — char/block device-node creation (`--devices`) and `--write-devices` — even under the default `AUTO` mode, so a non-opted module can never be made to `mknod` or write a raw device; those entries are skipped (not refused) so an ordinary `-a` push still succeeds without device nodes. The opt-in does **not** lift the privilege requirement: `--copy-as` still needs a root receiver, and the operator `--no-super` veto still forces super-user activities off for every connection. The daemon logs a prominent startup warning for each `client owner = yes` module so the operator's deliberate choice is visible.
 - **`read only` safe default:** every network transfer FastSync currently supports is a push that writes under the module root, so a `read only` module refuses the connection (clear server log "module is read only"; the client exits non-zero, nothing is transferred). A future pull/list operation can be opened up when it exists; the knob is already stored.