diff --git a/src/directoryserver.js b/src/directoryserver.js
index 67fa7421d..4f7cb0bd5 100644
--- a/src/directoryserver.js
+++ b/src/directoryserver.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ async function getConfig() {
     if (value === null) return {
         enabled: false,
         secret: '',
-        allowlist: '' // empty means allow all
+        allowlist: ''
     };
 
     return JSON.parse(value);
@@ -97,8 +97,7 @@ async function setConfig(directoryServerConfig, auditSource) {
     const config = {
         enabled: directoryServerConfig.enabled,
         secret: directoryServerConfig.secret,
-        // if list is empty, we allow all IPs
-        allowlist: directoryServerConfig.allowlist || ''
+        allowlist: directoryServerConfig.allowlist
     };
 
     await validateConfig(config);