diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index d3f049eab..d8063babe 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -891,6 +891,23 @@ spread-checks <0..50, in percent>
   and +/- 50%. A value between 2 and 5 seems to show good results. The
   default value remains at 0.
 
+tune.buffers.limit <number>
+  Sets a hard limit on the number of buffers which may be allocated per process.
+  The default value is zero which means unlimited. The minimum non-zero value
+  will always be greater than "tune.buffers.reserve" and should ideally always
+  be about twice as large. Forcing this value can be particularly useful to
+  limit the amount of memory a process may take, while retaining a sane
+  behaviour. When this limit is reached, sessions which need a buffer wait for
+  another one to be released by another session. Since buffers are dynamically
+  allocated and released, the waiting time is very short and not perceptible
+  provided that limits remain reasonable. In fact sometimes reducing the limit
+  may even increase performance by increasing the CPU cache's efficiency. Tests
+  have shown good results on average HTTP traffic with a limit to 1/10 of the
+  expected global maxconn setting, which also significantly reduces memory
+  usage. The memory savings come from the fact that a number of connections
+  will not allocate 2*tune.bufsize. It is best not to touch this value unless
+  advised to do so by an haproxy core developer.
+
 tune.buffers.reserve <number>
   Sets the number of buffers which are pre-allocated and reserved for use only
   during memory shortage conditions resulting in failed memory allocations. The
diff --git a/include/types/global.h b/include/types/global.h
index 143b8647a..22490b06b 100644
--- a/include/types/global.h
+++ b/include/types/global.h
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ struct global {
 		int bufsize;       /* buffer size in bytes, defaults to BUFSIZE */
 		int maxrewrite;    /* buffer max rewrite size in bytes, defaults to MAXREWRITE */
 		int reserved_bufs; /* how many buffers can only be allocated for response */
+		int buf_limit;     /* if not null, how many total buffers may only be allocated */
 		int client_sndbuf; /* set client sndbuf to this value if not null */
 		int client_rcvbuf; /* set client rcvbuf to this value if not null */
 		int server_sndbuf; /* set server sndbuf to this value if not null */
diff --git a/src/buffer.c b/src/buffer.c
index c7326dcd6..e156991e6 100644
--- a/src/buffer.c
+++ b/src/buffer.c
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ int init_buffer()
 	 * release a server connection).
 	 */
 	pool2_buffer->minavail = MAX(global.tune.reserved_bufs, 3);
+	if (global.tune.buf_limit)
+		pool2_buffer->limit = global.tune.buf_limit;
 
 	buffer = pool_refill_alloc(pool2_buffer, pool2_buffer->minavail - 1);
 	if (!buffer)
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index ad0b44bf8..99ac8a426 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -696,6 +696,20 @@ int cfg_parse_global(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 		}
 	}
 #endif
+	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.buffers.limit")) {
+		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
+			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects an integer argument.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
+			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+		global.tune.buf_limit = atol(args[1]);
+		if (global.tune.buf_limit) {
+			if (global.tune.buf_limit < 3)
+				global.tune.buf_limit = 3;
+			if (global.tune.buf_limit <= global.tune.reserved_bufs)
+				global.tune.buf_limit = global.tune.reserved_bufs + 1;
+		}
+	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.buffers.reserve")) {
 		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {
 			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects an integer argument.\n", file, linenum, args[0]);
@@ -705,6 +719,8 @@ int cfg_parse_global(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 		global.tune.reserved_bufs = atol(args[1]);
 		if (global.tune.reserved_bufs < 2)
 			global.tune.reserved_bufs = 2;
+		if (global.tune.buf_limit && global.tune.buf_limit <= global.tune.reserved_bufs)
+			global.tune.buf_limit = global.tune.reserved_bufs + 1;
 	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "tune.bufsize")) {
 		if (*(args[1]) == 0) {