Methods, systems, and devices for row hammer protection for a memory device are described. A memory device may identify a threshold of related row accesses (e.g., access commands or activates to a same row address or a row address space) for a memory array. In a first operation mode, the memory device may execute commands received from a host device on the memory array. The memory device may determine that a metric of the received row access commands satisfies the threshold of related row accesses. The memory device may switch the memory array from the first operation mode to a second operation mode based on satisfying the threshold. The second operation mode may restrict access to at least one row of the memory, while the first mode may be less restrictive. Additionally or alternatively, the memory device may notify the host device that the metric has satisfied the threshold.