diff --git a/litellm/proxy/middleware/guard_middleware.py b/litellm/proxy/middleware/guard_middleware.py
index 233c31bea54..46ba276ea71 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/middleware/guard_middleware.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/middleware/guard_middleware.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ def _build_guard_config():  # noqa: ANN202  # return type is from the lazily imp
     guard_module: Final = importlib.import_module("guard")
     security_config_cls: Final = guard_module.SecurityConfig
 
-    kwargs: dict[str, object] = {  # mutable-ok: assembled conditionally, then passed once to SecurityConfig
+    kwargs: Final = {
         "enable_rate_limiting": True,
         "rate_limit": _env_int("LITELLM_GUARD_RATE_LIMIT", 100),
         "rate_limit_window": _env_int("LITELLM_GUARD_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW", 60),