diff --git a/src/scripting.c b/src/scripting.c
index 0f876961a221cf4c200d1c4c76edba0615585a9e..03938edd5d6979c39a98b69784695d8fb4e6a009 100644
--- a/src/scripting.c
+++ b/src/scripting.c
@@ -412,6 +412,45 @@ void luaLoadLibraries(lua_State *lua) {
 #endif
 }
 
+void scriptingProtectGlobals(lua_State *lua) {
+    char *s[26];
+    sds code = sdsempty();
+    int j;
+
+    /* strict.lua from: http://metalua.luaforge.net/src/lib/strict.lua.html */
+    s[0]="local mt = getmetatable(_G)\n";
+    s[1]="if mt == nil then\n";
+    s[2]="  mt = {}\n";
+    s[3]="  setmetatable(_G, mt)\n";
+    s[4]="end\n";
+    s[5]="__STRICT = true\n";
+    s[6]="mt.__declared = {}\n";
+    s[7]="mt.__newindex = function (t, n, v)\n";
+    s[8]="  if __STRICT and not mt.__declared[n] and debug.getinfo(2) then\n";
+    s[9]="    local w = debug.getinfo(2, \"S\").what\n";
+    s[10]="    if w ~= \"main\" and w ~= \"C\" then\n";
+    s[11]="      error(\"assign to undeclared global var '\"..n..\"'\", 2)\n";
+    s[12]="    end\n";
+    s[13]="    mt.__declared[n] = true\n";
+    s[14]="  end\n";
+    s[15]="  rawset(t, n, v)\n";
+    s[16]="end\n";
+    s[17]="mt.__index = function (t, n)\n";
+    s[18]="  if debug.getinfo(2) and not mt.__declared[n] and debug.getinfo(2, \"S\").what ~= \"C\" then\n";
+    s[19]="    error(\"global var '\"..n..\"' is not declared\", 2)\n";
+    s[20]="  end\n";
+    s[21]="  return rawget(t, n)\n";
+    s[22]="end\n";
+    s[23]="function global(...)\n";
+    s[24]="   for _, v in ipairs{...} do mt.__declared[v] = true end\n";
+    s[25]="end\n";
+
+    for (j = 0; j < 26; j++) code = sdscatlen(code,s[j],strlen(s[j]));
+    luaL_loadbuffer(lua,code,sdslen(code),"strict_lua");
+    lua_pcall(lua,0,0,0);
+    sdsfree(code);
+}
+
 /* Initialize the scripting environment.
  * It is possible to call this function to reset the scripting environment
  * assuming that we call scriptingRelease() before.
@@ -501,6 +540,11 @@ void scriptingInit(void) {
         server.lua_client->flags |= REDIS_LUA_CLIENT;
     }
 
+    /* Lua beginners ofter don't use "local", this is likely to introduce
+     * subtle bugs in their code. To prevent problems we protect accesses
+     * to global variables. */
+    scriptingProtectGlobals(lua);
+
     server.lua = lua;
 }