diff --git a/litellm/proxy/middleware/prometheus_auth_middleware.py b/litellm/proxy/middleware/prometheus_auth_middleware.py
index ae2481384b..ca38a9d445 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/middleware/prometheus_auth_middleware.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/middleware/prometheus_auth_middleware.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from fastapi import Request
 from starlette.middleware.base import BaseHTTPMiddleware
 
 import litellm
+from litellm.proxy._types import SpecialHeaders
 from litellm.proxy.auth.user_api_key_auth import user_api_key_auth
 
 
@@ -13,12 +14,17 @@ class PrometheusAuthMiddleware(BaseHTTPMiddleware):
         # Check if this is a request to the metrics endpoint
 
         if self._is_prometheus_metrics_endpoint(request):
-            try:
-                await user_api_key_auth(
-                    request=request, api_key=request.headers.get("Authorization") or ""
-                )
-            except Exception as e:
-                raise e
+            if self._should_run_auth_on_metrics_endpoint() is True:
+                try:
+                    await user_api_key_auth(
+                        request=request,
+                        api_key=request.headers.get(
+                            SpecialHeaders.openai_authorization.value
+                        )
+                        or "",
+                    )
+                except Exception as e:
+                    raise e
 
         # Process the request and get the response
         response = await call_next(request)
@@ -36,4 +42,14 @@ class PrometheusAuthMiddleware(BaseHTTPMiddleware):
 
     @staticmethod
     def _should_run_auth_on_metrics_endpoint():
+        """
+        Returns True if auth should be run on the metrics endpoint
+
+        False by default, set to True in proxy_config.yaml to enable
+
+        ```yaml
+        litellm_settings:
+            require_auth_for_metrics_endpoint: true
+        ```
+        """
         return litellm.require_auth_for_metrics_endpoint
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_config.yaml b/litellm/proxy/proxy_config.yaml
index 788bf9642d..61950f55fe 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_config.yaml
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_config.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,5 @@ model_list:
       api_key: fake-key
 
 litellm_settings:
-  require_auth_for_metrics_endpoint: true
   callbacks: ["prometheus"]
   service_callback: ["prometheus_system"]
\ No newline at end of file