diff --git a/packages/pg/lib/client.js b/packages/pg/lib/client.js
index 3525cf5ac..d6c57194c 100644
--- a/packages/pg/lib/client.js
+++ b/packages/pg/lib/client.js
@@ -36,6 +36,17 @@ const queryQueueLengthDeprecationNotice = nodeUtils.deprecate(
   'Calling client.query() when the client is already executing a query is deprecated and will be removed in pg@9.0. Use async/await or an external async flow control mechanism instead.'
 )
 
+function coerceNumberOrDefault(value, defaultValue) {
+  if (typeof value === 'number') {
+    return Number.isFinite(value) ? value : defaultValue
+  }
+  if (typeof value === 'string' && value.trim() !== '') {
+    const n = Number(value)
+    return Number.isFinite(n) ? n : defaultValue
+  }
+  return defaultValue
+}
+
 class Client extends EventEmitter {
   constructor(config) {
     super()
@@ -74,6 +85,7 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
     this._txStatus = null
 
     this.enableChannelBinding = Boolean(c.enableChannelBinding) // set true to use SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS when offered
+    this.scramMaxIterations = coerceNumberOrDefault(c.scramMaxIterations, sasl.DEFAULT_MAX_SCRAM_ITERATIONS)
     this.connection =
       c.connection ||
       new Connection({
@@ -307,7 +319,11 @@ class Client extends EventEmitter {
   _handleAuthSASL(msg) {
     this._getPassword(() => {
       try {
-        this.saslSession = sasl.startSession(msg.mechanisms, this.enableChannelBinding && this.connection.stream)
+        this.saslSession = sasl.startSession(
+          msg.mechanisms,
+          this.enableChannelBinding && this.connection.stream,
+          this.scramMaxIterations
+        )
         this.connection.sendSASLInitialResponseMessage(this.saslSession.mechanism, this.saslSession.response)
       } catch (err) {
         this.connection.emit('error', err)
diff --git a/packages/pg/lib/crypto/sasl.js b/packages/pg/lib/crypto/sasl.js
index 39af4e4cf..ea63b2413 100644
--- a/packages/pg/lib/crypto/sasl.js
+++ b/packages/pg/lib/crypto/sasl.js
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ function saslprep(password) {
   return password.replace(nonAsciiSpace, ' ').replace(mappedToNothing, '').normalize('NFKC')
 }
 
-function startSession(mechanisms, stream) {
+const DEFAULT_MAX_SCRAM_ITERATIONS = 100000
+
+function startSession(mechanisms, stream, scramMaxIterations = DEFAULT_MAX_SCRAM_ITERATIONS) {
   const candidates = ['SCRAM-SHA-256']
   if (stream) candidates.unshift('SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS') // higher-priority, so placed first
 
@@ -53,6 +55,7 @@ function startSession(mechanisms, stream) {
     clientNonce,
     response: gs2Header + ',,n=*,r=' + clientNonce,
     message: 'SASLInitialResponse',
+    scramMaxIterations,
   }
 }
 
@@ -78,6 +81,18 @@ async function continueSession(session, password, serverData, stream) {
     throw new Error('SASL: SCRAM-SERVER-FIRST-MESSAGE: server nonce is too short')
   }
 
+  const scramMaxIterations =
+    typeof session.scramMaxIterations === 'number' ? session.scramMaxIterations : DEFAULT_MAX_SCRAM_ITERATIONS
+  // a value of 0 disables the iteration count check
+  if (scramMaxIterations !== 0 && sv.iteration > scramMaxIterations) {
+    throw new Error(
+      'SASL: SCRAM-SERVER-FIRST-MESSAGE: iteration count ' +
+        sv.iteration +
+        ' exceeds scramMaxIterations of ' +
+        scramMaxIterations
+    )
+  }
+
   const clientFirstMessageBare = 'n=*,r=' + session.clientNonce
   const serverFirstMessage = 'r=' + sv.nonce + ',s=' + sv.salt + ',i=' + sv.iteration
 
@@ -243,4 +258,5 @@ module.exports = {
   startSession,
   continueSession,
   finalizeSession,
+  DEFAULT_MAX_SCRAM_ITERATIONS,
 }
diff --git a/packages/pg/test/unit/client/sasl-scram-tests.js b/packages/pg/test/unit/client/sasl-scram-tests.js
index fc75a748a..02b0d4e6d 100644
--- a/packages/pg/test/unit/client/sasl-scram-tests.js
+++ b/packages/pg/test/unit/client/sasl-scram-tests.js
@@ -55,6 +55,18 @@ suite.test('sasl/scram', function () {
 
       assert(session1.clientNonce != session2.clientNonce)
     })
+
+    suite.test('defaults scramMaxIterations to 100000', function () {
+      const session = sasl.startSession(['SCRAM-SHA-256'])
+
+      assert.equal(session.scramMaxIterations, 100000)
+    })
+
+    suite.test('honors a custom scramMaxIterations', function () {
+      const session = sasl.startSession(['SCRAM-SHA-256'], null, 50)
+
+      assert.equal(session.scramMaxIterations, 50)
+    })
   })
 
   suite.test('continueSession', function () {
@@ -159,6 +171,68 @@ suite.test('sasl/scram', function () {
       )
     })
 
+    suite.test('fails when iteration count exceeds default scramMaxIterations', async function () {
+      await assert.rejects(
+        function () {
+          return sasl.continueSession(
+            {
+              message: 'SASLInitialResponse',
+              clientNonce: 'a',
+              scramMaxIterations: 100000,
+            },
+            'password',
+            'r=ab,s=abcd,i=100001'
+          )
+        },
+        {
+          message: 'SASL: SCRAM-SERVER-FIRST-MESSAGE: iteration count 100001 exceeds scramMaxIterations of 100000',
+        }
+      )
+    })
+
+    suite.test('fails when iteration count exceeds a custom scramMaxIterations', async function () {
+      await assert.rejects(
+        function () {
+          return sasl.continueSession(
+            {
+              message: 'SASLInitialResponse',
+              clientNonce: 'a',
+              scramMaxIterations: 10,
+            },
+            'password',
+            'r=ab,s=abcd,i=11'
+          )
+        },
+        {
+          message: 'SASL: SCRAM-SERVER-FIRST-MESSAGE: iteration count 11 exceeds scramMaxIterations of 10',
+        }
+      )
+    })
+
+    suite.test('allows iteration count at the scramMaxIterations limit', async function () {
+      const session = {
+        message: 'SASLInitialResponse',
+        clientNonce: 'a',
+        scramMaxIterations: 5,
+      }
+
+      await sasl.continueSession(session, 'password', 'r=ab,s=abcd,i=5')
+
+      assert.equal(session.message, 'SASLResponse')
+    })
+
+    suite.test('disables the iteration count check when scramMaxIterations is 0', async function () {
+      const session = {
+        message: 'SASLInitialResponse',
+        clientNonce: 'a',
+        scramMaxIterations: 0,
+      }
+
+      await sasl.continueSession(session, 'password', 'r=ab,s=abcd,i=999999')
+
+      assert.equal(session.message, 'SASLResponse')
+    })
+
     suite.test('sets expected session data (SCRAM-SHA-256)', async function () {
       const session = {
         message: 'SASLInitialResponse',