The invention provides a system and method for controlling the number of Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) security associations per Internet Key Exchange (IKE) security association for a single user. The limit on the number of security association (SA) tunnels per key management protocol SA may be stored in a server. A user equipment sends a request, to the server, to set up a new SA. The server, upon receiving the request, checks whether the limit on the number of SA tunnels per key management protocol has been reached. The request is accepted when the limit has not yet been reached.