diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index ddd87100ad..70761240f1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 4.0.18
+ * Honor MAX_PARALLEL_TRANSFERS correctly (CASSANDRA-20532)
  * Updating a column with a new TTL but same expiration time is non-deterministic and causes repair mismatches. (CASSANDRA-20561)
  * Grant permission on keyspaces system_views and system_virtual_schema not possible (CASSANDRA-20171)
  * Avoid computing prepared statement size for unprepared batches (CASSANDRA-20556)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/streaming/async/NettyStreamingMessageSender.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/streaming/async/NettyStreamingMessageSender.java
index 4334382be4..46480cd7c4 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/streaming/async/NettyStreamingMessageSender.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/streaming/async/NettyStreamingMessageSender.java
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ public class NettyStreamingMessageSender implements StreamingMessageSender
     private static final long DEFAULT_CLOSE_WAIT_IN_MILLIS = TimeUnit.MINUTES.toMillis(5);
 
     // a simple mechansim for allowing a degree of fairnes across multiple sessions
-    private static final Semaphore fileTransferSemaphore = new Semaphore(DEFAULT_MAX_PARALLEL_TRANSFERS, true);
+    private static final Semaphore fileTransferSemaphore = new Semaphore(MAX_PARALLEL_TRANSFERS, true);
 
     private final StreamSession session;
     private final boolean isPreview;