Rate Limiting in Web Applications: Bug That Pays Your Rent
1 min read
Summary
Rate limiting is a key mechanism used to regulate the number of requests a server receives within a particular time frame, maintaining application stability and security.
The strategies involved with implementing rate limiting involve counting the number of requests within a given period, or using a “token bucket” algorithm where a fixed number of tokens are added to a bucket at a fixed rate, and requests consume a token, with denied requests when there are no tokens left.
Leaky bucket algorithms are also similar but differ in that they discard tokens/requests above a fixed output rate.
Implementing rate limiting needs to be flexible and adapt to varying usage patterns, addressing vulnerabilities through granular controls, thoughtful thresholds, and adaptive responses.