Rockfall protection embankments are elevated massive structures designed to stop falling rock blocks. This paper discusses two specific facets of their design: their ability to control a block's trajectory and to withstand the impact. Based on a critical review of the literature and the state of the art, this article treats the main features in the design of rockfall protection embankments and highlights the limitations of the methods used today. Rockfall simulation codes lack of precision as they are generally not calibrated nor validated on the block's flying heights and velocities. And, analytical methods used to assess the response of embankments to impact globally fail in satisfactorily considering all the mechanisms involved and estimating their magnitude. These points should be considered by design engineers and could potentially lead to future improvements in the design of rockfall protection embankments.