diff --git a/docs/content/configuration/broker.md b/docs/content/configuration/broker.md
index 83542e03bae..ff025366f28 100644
--- a/docs/content/configuration/broker.md
+++ b/docs/content/configuration/broker.md
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@ The broker uses processing configs for nested groupBy queries. And, optionally,
 |Property|Description|Default|
 |--------|-----------|-------|
 |`druid.query.groupBy.singleThreaded`|Run single threaded group By queries.|false|
-|`druid.query.groupBy.maxIntermediateRows`|Maximum number of intermediate rows. This can be overriden at query time by `maxIntermediateRows` attribute in query context.|50000|
-|`druid.query.groupBy.maxResults`|Maximum number of results.  This can be overriden at query time by `maxResults` attribute in query context.|500000|
+|`druid.query.groupBy.maxIntermediateRows`|Maximum number of intermediate rows. This can be lowered at query time by `maxIntermediateRows` attribute in query context.|50000|
+|`druid.query.groupBy.maxResults`|Maximum number of results.  This can be lowered at query time by `maxResults` attribute in query context.|500000|
 
 ##### Search Query Config
 
diff --git a/docs/content/configuration/historical.md b/docs/content/configuration/historical.md
index ce07a5494db..14f9dba9d08 100644
--- a/docs/content/configuration/historical.md
+++ b/docs/content/configuration/historical.md
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ Druid uses Jetty to serve HTTP requests.
 |Property|Description|Default|
 |--------|-----------|-------|
 |`druid.query.groupBy.singleThreaded`|Run single threaded group By queries.|false|
-|`druid.query.groupBy.maxIntermediateRows`|Maximum number of intermediate rows. This can be overriden at query time by `maxIntermediateRows` attribute in query context.|50000|
-|`druid.query.groupBy.maxResults`|Maximum number of results.  This can be overriden at query time by `maxResults` attribute in query context.|500000|
+|`druid.query.groupBy.maxIntermediateRows`|Maximum number of intermediate rows. This can be lowered at query time by `maxIntermediateRows` attribute in query context.|50000|
+|`druid.query.groupBy.maxResults`|Maximum number of results.  This can be lowered at query time by `maxResults` attribute in query context.|500000|
 
 ##### Search Query Config
 
diff --git a/docs/content/querying/query-context.md b/docs/content/querying/query-context.md
index eff84069ee0..05a25732c02 100644
--- a/docs/content/querying/query-context.md
+++ b/docs/content/querying/query-context.md
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@ The query context is used for various query configuration parameters.
 |finalize         | `true`              | Flag indicating whether to "finalize" aggregation results. Primarily used for debugging. For instance, the `hyperUnique` aggregator will return the full HyperLogLog sketch instead of the estimated cardinality when this flag is set to `false` |
 |chunkPeriod      | `0` (off)           | At the broker node level, long interval queries (of any type) may be broken into shorter interval queries, reducing the impact on resources. Use ISO 8601 periods. For example, if this property is set to `P1M` (one month), then a query covering a year would be broken into 12 smaller queries. All the query chunks will be processed asynchronously inside query processing executor service. Make sure "druid.processing.numThreads" is configured appropriately on the broker. |
 |minTopNThreshold | `1000`              | The top minTopNThreshold local results from each segment are returned for merging to determine the global topN. |
-|`maxResults`|500000|Maximum number of results groupBy query can process.|
-|`maxIntermediateRows`|50000|Maximum number of intermediate rows while processing single segment for groupBy query.|
+|`maxResults`|500000|Maximum number of results groupBy query can process. Default value used can be changed by `druid.query.groupBy.maxResults` in druid configuration at broker and historical nodes. At query time you can only lower the value.|
+|`maxIntermediateRows`|50000|Maximum number of intermediate rows while processing single segment for groupBy query. Default value used can be changed by `druid.query.groupBy.maxIntermediateRows` in druid configuration at broker and historical nodes. At query time you can only lower the value.|
 
diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryEngine.java b/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryEngine.java
index 3674703c975..31891eb080e 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryEngine.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryEngine.java
@@ -310,7 +310,12 @@ public class GroupByQueryEngine
       this.cursor = cursor;
       this.metricsBuffer = metricsBuffer;
 
-      this.maxIntermediateRows = query.getContextValue(CTX_KEY_MAX_INTERMEDIATE_ROWS, config.getMaxIntermediateRows());
+      this.maxIntermediateRows = Math.min(
+          query.getContextValue(
+              CTX_KEY_MAX_INTERMEDIATE_ROWS,
+              config.getMaxIntermediateRows()
+          ), config.getMaxIntermediateRows()
+      );
 
       unprocessedKeys = null;
       delegate = Iterators.emptyIterator();
diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryHelper.java b/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryHelper.java
index 18dd0274931..4a94f8f5c04 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryHelper.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/io/druid/query/groupby/GroupByQueryHelper.java
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public class GroupByQueryHelper
           aggs.toArray(new AggregatorFactory[aggs.size()]),
           false,
           true,
-          query.getContextValue(CTX_KEY_MAX_RESULTS, config.getMaxResults()),
+          Math.min(query.getContextValue(CTX_KEY_MAX_RESULTS, config.getMaxResults()), config.getMaxResults()),
           bufferPool
       );
     } else {
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public class GroupByQueryHelper
           aggs.toArray(new AggregatorFactory[aggs.size()]),
           false,
           true,
-          query.getContextValue(CTX_KEY_MAX_RESULTS, config.getMaxResults())
+          Math.min(query.getContextValue(CTX_KEY_MAX_RESULTS, config.getMaxResults()), config.getMaxResults())
       );
     }