diff --git a/doc/api/http.md b/doc/api/http.md
index 9b0be0b61bccc8..9dc46b13f34ccf 100644
--- a/doc/api/http.md
+++ b/doc/api/http.md
@@ -882,6 +882,26 @@ added: v0.7.0
 
 Limits maximum incoming headers count. If set to 0 - no limit will be applied.
 
+### server.headersTimeout
+<!-- YAML
+added: REPLACEME
+-->
+
+* {number} **Default:** `40000`
+
+Limit the amount of time the parser will wait to receive the complete HTTP
+headers.
+
+In case of inactivity, the rules defined in [server.timeout][] apply. However,
+that inactivity based timeout would still allow the connection to be kept open
+if the headers are being sent very slowly (by default, up to a byte per 2
+minutes). In order to prevent this, whenever header data arrives an additional
+check is made that more than `server.headersTimeout` milliseconds has not
+passed since the connection was established. If the check fails, a `'timeout'`
+event is emitted on the server object, and (by default) the socket is destroyed.
+See [server.timeout][] for more information on how timeout behaviour can be
+customised.
+
 ### server.setTimeout([msecs][, callback])
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.9.12
diff --git a/doc/api/https.md b/doc/api/https.md
index ee023810f80b76..f6c0da5cbb0a7d 100644
--- a/doc/api/https.md
+++ b/doc/api/https.md
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@ See [`server.close()`][`http.close()`] from the HTTP module for details.
 Starts the HTTPS server listening for encrypted connections.
 This method is identical to [`server.listen()`][] from [`net.Server`][].
 
+### server.headersTimeout
+
+- {number} **Default:** `40000`
+
+See [`http.Server#headersTimeout`][].
+
 ### server.setTimeout([msecs][, callback])
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.11.2
@@ -253,6 +259,7 @@ const req = https.request(options, (res) => {
 [`URL`]: url.html#url_the_whatwg_url_api
 [`http.Agent`]: http.html#http_class_http_agent
 [`http.Server#keepAliveTimeout`]: http.html#http_server_keepalivetimeout
+[`http.Server#headersTimeout`]: http.html#http_server_headerstimeout
 [`http.Server#setTimeout()`]: http.html#http_server_settimeout_msecs_callback
 [`http.Server#timeout`]: http.html#http_server_timeout
 [`http.Server`]: http.html#http_class_http_server
diff --git a/lib/_http_server.js b/lib/_http_server.js
index b95736d1ea6d7e..a015213c76b542 100644
--- a/lib/_http_server.js
+++ b/lib/_http_server.js
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ const {
   _checkInvalidHeaderChar: checkInvalidHeaderChar
 } = require('_http_common');
 const { OutgoingMessage } = require('_http_outgoing');
-const { outHeadersKey, ondrain } = require('internal/http');
+const { outHeadersKey, ondrain, nowDate } = require('internal/http');
 const {
   defaultTriggerAsyncIdScope,
   getOrSetAsyncId
@@ -296,6 +296,7 @@ function Server(options, requestListener) {
   this.keepAliveTimeout = 5000;
   this._pendingResponseData = 0;
   this.maxHeadersCount = null;
+  this.headersTimeout = 40 * 1000; // 40 seconds
 }
 util.inherits(Server, net.Server);
 
@@ -334,6 +335,9 @@ function connectionListenerInternal(server, socket) {
   var parser = parsers.alloc();
   parser.reinitialize(HTTPParser.REQUEST, parser[is_reused_symbol]);
   parser.socket = socket;
+
+  // We are starting to wait for our headers.
+  parser.parsingHeadersStart = nowDate();
   socket.parser = parser;
   parser.incoming = null;
 
@@ -475,7 +479,20 @@ function socketOnData(server, socket, parser, state, d) {
 
 function onParserExecute(server, socket, parser, state, ret) {
   socket._unrefTimer();
+  const start = parser.parsingHeadersStart;
   debug('SERVER socketOnParserExecute %d', ret);
+
+  // If we have not parsed the headers, destroy the socket
+  // after server.headersTimeout to protect from DoS attacks.
+  // start === 0 means that we have parsed headers.
+  if (start !== 0 && nowDate() - start > server.headersTimeout) {
+    const serverTimeout = server.emit('timeout', socket);
+
+    if (!serverTimeout)
+      socket.destroy();
+    return;
+  }
+
   onParserExecuteCommon(server, socket, parser, state, ret, undefined);
 }
 
@@ -579,6 +596,9 @@ function resOnFinish(req, res, socket, state, server) {
 function parserOnIncoming(server, socket, state, req, keepAlive) {
   resetSocketTimeout(server, socket, state);
 
+  // Set to zero to communicate that we have finished parsing.
+  socket.parser.parsingHeadersStart = 0;
+
   state.incoming.push(req);
 
   // If the writable end isn't consuming, then stop reading
diff --git a/lib/https.js b/lib/https.js
index a2aea08ac9cbe1..04710a07bdf52f 100644
--- a/lib/https.js
+++ b/lib/https.js
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ function Server(opts, requestListener) {
 
   this.timeout = 2 * 60 * 1000;
   this.keepAliveTimeout = 5000;
+
+  this.headersTimeout = 40 * 1000; // 40 seconds
 }
 inherits(Server, tls.Server);
 exports.Server = Server;
diff --git a/lib/internal/http.js b/lib/internal/http.js
index 71e32498f359a1..f45a79343f825d 100644
--- a/lib/internal/http.js
+++ b/lib/internal/http.js
@@ -2,18 +2,30 @@
 
 const timers = require('timers');
 
-var dateCache;
+var nowCache;
+var utcCache;
+
+function nowDate() {
+  if (!nowCache) cache();
+  return nowCache;
+}
+
 function utcDate() {
-  if (!dateCache) {
-    const d = new Date();
-    dateCache = d.toUTCString();
-    timers.enroll(utcDate, 1000 - d.getMilliseconds());
-    timers._unrefActive(utcDate);
-  }
-  return dateCache;
+  if (!utcCache) cache();
+  return utcCache;
 }
-utcDate._onTimeout = function() {
-  dateCache = undefined;
+
+function cache() {
+  const d = new Date();
+  nowCache = d.valueOf();
+  utcCache = d.toUTCString();
+  timers.enroll(cache, 1000 - d.getMilliseconds());
+  timers._unrefActive(cache);
+}
+
+cache._onTimeout = function() {
+  nowCache = undefined;
+  utcCache = undefined;
 };
 
 function ondrain() {
@@ -23,5 +35,6 @@ function ondrain() {
 module.exports = {
   outHeadersKey: Symbol('outHeadersKey'),
   ondrain,
+  nowDate,
   utcDate
 };
diff --git a/test/async-hooks/test-graph.http.js b/test/async-hooks/test-graph.http.js
index 4f787d43e8231f..48b3ef0be4c3f8 100644
--- a/test/async-hooks/test-graph.http.js
+++ b/test/async-hooks/test-graph.http.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ process.on('exit', function() {
         triggerAsyncId: 'tcp:2' },
       { type: 'Timeout',
         id: 'timeout:2',
-        triggerAsyncId: 'httpparser:2' },
+        triggerAsyncId: 'tcp:2' },
       { type: 'SHUTDOWNWRAP',
         id: 'shutdown:1',
         triggerAsyncId: 'tcp:2' } ]
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-slow-headers.js b/test/parallel/test-http-slow-headers.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..54c0310e91fb7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-slow-headers.js
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { createServer } = require('http');
+const { connect } = require('net');
+
+// This test validates that the 'timeout' event fires
+// after server.headersTimeout.
+
+const headers =
+  'GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n' +
+  'Host: localhost\r\n' +
+  'Agent: node\r\n';
+
+const server = createServer(common.mustNotCall());
+let sendCharEvery = 1000;
+
+// 40 seconds is the default
+assert.strictEqual(server.headersTimeout, 40 * 1000);
+
+// Pass a REAL env variable to shortening up the default
+// value which is 40s otherwise this is useful for manual
+// testing
+if (!process.env.REAL) {
+  sendCharEvery = common.platformTimeout(10);
+  server.headersTimeout = 2 * sendCharEvery;
+}
+
+server.once('timeout', common.mustCall((socket) => {
+  socket.destroy();
+}));
+
+server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
+  const client = connect(server.address().port);
+  client.write(headers);
+  client.write('X-CRASH: ');
+
+  const interval = setInterval(() => {
+    client.write('a');
+  }, sendCharEvery);
+
+  client.resume();
+
+  const onClose = common.mustCall(() => {
+    client.removeListener('close', onClose);
+    client.removeListener('error', onClose);
+    client.removeListener('end', onClose);
+    clearInterval(interval);
+    server.close();
+  });
+
+  client.on('error', onClose);
+  client.on('close', onClose);
+  client.on('end', onClose);
+}));
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-https-slow-headers.js b/test/parallel/test-https-slow-headers.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..83e42a949072ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-https-slow-headers.js
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const { readKey } = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+if (!common.hasCrypto)
+  common.skip('missing crypto');
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { createServer } = require('https');
+const { connect } = require('tls');
+
+// This test validates that the 'timeout' event fires
+// after server.headersTimeout.
+
+const headers =
+  'GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n' +
+  'Host: localhost\r\n' +
+  'Agent: node\r\n';
+
+const server = createServer({
+  key: readKey('agent1-key.pem'),
+  cert: readKey('agent1-cert.pem'),
+  ca: readKey('ca1-cert.pem'),
+}, common.mustNotCall());
+
+let sendCharEvery = 1000;
+
+// 40 seconds is the default
+assert.strictEqual(server.headersTimeout, 40 * 1000);
+
+// pass a REAL env variable to shortening up the default
+// value which is 40s otherwise
+// this is useful for manual testing
+if (!process.env.REAL) {
+  sendCharEvery = common.platformTimeout(10);
+  server.headersTimeout = 2 * sendCharEvery;
+}
+
+server.once('timeout', common.mustCall((socket) => {
+  socket.destroy();
+}));
+
+server.listen(0, common.mustCall(() => {
+  const client = connect({
+    port: server.address().port,
+    rejectUnauthorized: false
+  });
+  client.write(headers);
+  client.write('X-CRASH: ');
+
+  const interval = setInterval(() => {
+    client.write('a');
+  }, sendCharEvery);
+
+  client.resume();
+
+  const onClose = common.mustCall(() => {
+    client.removeListener('close', onClose);
+    client.removeListener('error', onClose);
+    client.removeListener('end', onClose);
+    clearInterval(interval);
+    server.close();
+  });
+
+  client.on('error', onClose);
+  client.on('close', onClose);
+  client.on('end', onClose);
+}));