diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerProperties.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerProperties.java
index dccdf5073a4..027551b6c7a 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerProperties.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerProperties.java
@@ -409,6 +409,11 @@ public class ServerProperties {
 		 */
 		private Duration connectionTimeout;
 
+		/**
+		 * Whether to reject requests with illegal header names or values.
+		 */
+		private boolean rejectIllegalHeader = true;
+
 		/**
 		 * Static resource configuration.
 		 */
@@ -560,6 +565,14 @@ public class ServerProperties {
 			this.connectionTimeout = connectionTimeout;
 		}
 
+		public boolean isRejectIllegalHeader() {
+			return this.rejectIllegalHeader;
+		}
+
+		public void setRejectIllegalHeader(boolean rejectIllegalHeader) {
+			this.rejectIllegalHeader = rejectIllegalHeader;
+		}
+
 		public Resource getResource() {
 			return this.resource;
 		}
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer.java
index 9e44dd4bfa5..b55d2d9a66f 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer.java
@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ public class TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer
 				.to((relaxedChars) -> customizeRelaxedPathChars(factory, relaxedChars));
 		propertyMapper.from(tomcatProperties::getRelaxedQueryChars).as(this::joinCharacters).whenHasText()
 				.to((relaxedChars) -> customizeRelaxedQueryChars(factory, relaxedChars));
+		propertyMapper.from(tomcatProperties::isRejectIllegalHeader)
+				.to((rejectIllegalHeader) -> customizeRejectIllegalHeader(factory, rejectIllegalHeader));
 		customizeStaticResources(factory);
 		customizeErrorReportValve(properties.getError(), factory);
 	}
@@ -192,6 +194,16 @@ public class TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizer
 		factory.addConnectorCustomizers((connector) -> connector.setProperty("relaxedQueryChars", relaxedChars));
 	}
 
+	private void customizeRejectIllegalHeader(ConfigurableTomcatWebServerFactory factory, boolean rejectIllegalHeader) {
+		factory.addConnectorCustomizers((connector) -> {
+			ProtocolHandler handler = connector.getProtocolHandler();
+			if (handler instanceof AbstractHttp11Protocol) {
+				AbstractHttp11Protocol<?> protocol = (AbstractHttp11Protocol<?>) handler;
+				protocol.setRejectIllegalHeader(rejectIllegalHeader);
+			}
+		});
+	}
+
 	private String joinCharacters(List<Character> content) {
 		return content.stream().map(String::valueOf).collect(Collectors.joining());
 	}
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesTests.java
index 7f1ffd735a2..6234688ebc5 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ServerPropertiesTests.java
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ class ServerPropertiesTests {
 		map.put("server.tomcat.remoteip.protocol-header", "X-Forwarded-Protocol");
 		map.put("server.tomcat.remoteip.remote-ip-header", "Remote-Ip");
 		map.put("server.tomcat.remoteip.internal-proxies", "10\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}");
+		map.put("server.tomcat.reject-illegal-header", "false");
 		map.put("server.tomcat.background-processor-delay", "10");
 		map.put("server.tomcat.relaxed-path-chars", "|,<");
 		map.put("server.tomcat.relaxed-query-chars", "^  ,  | ");
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ class ServerPropertiesTests {
 		assertThat(tomcat.getRemoteip().getRemoteIpHeader()).isEqualTo("Remote-Ip");
 		assertThat(tomcat.getRemoteip().getProtocolHeader()).isEqualTo("X-Forwarded-Protocol");
 		assertThat(tomcat.getRemoteip().getInternalProxies()).isEqualTo("10\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}\\.\\d{1,3}");
+		assertThat(tomcat.isRejectIllegalHeader()).isFalse();
 		assertThat(tomcat.getBackgroundProcessorDelay()).hasSeconds(10);
 		assertThat(tomcat.getRelaxedPathChars()).containsExactly('|', '<');
 		assertThat(tomcat.getRelaxedQueryChars()).containsExactly('^', '|');
@@ -405,6 +407,12 @@ class ServerPropertiesTests {
 				.isEqualTo(new RemoteIpValve().getInternalProxies());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void tomcatRejectIllegalHeaderMatchesProtocolDefault() throws Exception {
+		assertThat(getDefaultProtocol()).hasFieldOrPropertyWithValue("rejectIllegalHeader",
+				this.properties.getTomcat().isRejectIllegalHeader());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void tomcatUseRelativeRedirectsDefaultsToFalse() {
 		assertThat(this.properties.getTomcat().isUseRelativeRedirects()).isFalse();
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizerTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizerTests.java
index 6a3742a1722..80e5f8fa561 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizerTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/embedded/TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizerTests.java
@@ -320,6 +320,14 @@ class TomcatWebServerFactoryCustomizerTests {
 		assertThat(factory.getEngineValves()).isEmpty();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void testCustomizeRejectIllegalHeader() {
+		bind("server.tomcat.reject-illegal-header=false");
+		customizeAndRunServer((server) -> assertThat(
+				((AbstractHttp11Protocol<?>) server.getTomcat().getConnector().getProtocolHandler())
+						.getRejectIllegalHeader()).isFalse());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void errorReportValveIsConfiguredToNotReportStackTraces() {
 		TomcatWebServer server = customizeAndGetServer();