diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1e5939b0..23f2c185 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1611,7 +1611,7 @@ Time between sampling of unicorn socket metrics, in seconds, defaults to `10`
 
 ##### `GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST`
 
-IP whitelist to access monitoring endpoints, defaults to `0.0.0.0/8`
+IP whitelist to access monitoring endpoints. No defaults.
 
 ##### `GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_ENABLED`
 
diff --git a/assets/runtime/env-defaults b/assets/runtime/env-defaults
index 7c6de6d9..14e0ccc1 100644
--- a/assets/runtime/env-defaults
+++ b/assets/runtime/env-defaults
@@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ GITLAB_SHELL_CUSTOM_HOOKS_DIR=${GITLAB_SHELL_CUSTOM_HOOKS_DIR:-"$GITLAB_SHELL_IN
 
 ## MONITORING
 GITLAB_MONITORING_UNICORN_SAMPLER_INTERVAL=${GITLAB_MONITORING_UNICORN_SAMPLER_INTERVAL:-10}
-GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST=${GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST:-"0.0.0.0/8"}
+GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST=${GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST:-}
 GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_ENABLED=${GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_ENABLED:-true}
 GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_ADDRESS=${GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_ADDRESS:-"0.0.0.0"}
 GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_PORT=${GITLAB_MONITORING_SIDEKIQ_EXPORTER_PORT:-3807}
diff --git a/assets/runtime/functions b/assets/runtime/functions
index 4f7908bb..be6a0133 100644
--- a/assets/runtime/functions
+++ b/assets/runtime/functions
@@ -351,6 +351,10 @@ gitlab_configure_gitaly() {
 gitlab_configure_monitoring() {
   echo "Configuring gitlab::monitoring..."
 
+  if [ "${GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST}" == "" ]; then
+    exec_as_git sed -i "/{{GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST}}/d" ${GITLAB_CONFIG}
+  fi
+
   update_template ${GITLAB_CONFIG} \
     GITLAB_MONITORING_UNICORN_SAMPLER_INTERVAL \
     GITLAB_MONITORING_IP_WHITELIST \