diff --git a/src/configuration.c b/src/configuration.c
index 8c5aafd..b5832d7 100644
--- a/src/configuration.c
+++ b/src/configuration.c
@@ -36,10 +36,10 @@ parse_configfile(char* config_path, Connection* conn)
 			};
 			mapconf(root, rootmaps, sizeof(rootmaps) / sizeof(*rootmaps));
 
-			// Timeout is saved as a time_t (long)
-			int* tmp = NULL;
-			config_setting_lookup_int(root, "timeout", tmp);
-			if (tmp != NULL) conn->data.timeout = *tmp;
+			// Timeout is saved as a time_t (long) and may not be negative, 0 is default (unset)
+			signed int tmp = -1;
+			config_setting_lookup_int(root, "timeout", &tmp);
+			if (tmp > 0) conn->data.timeout = tmp;
 
 			// Channels are a array
 			config_setting_t* chans;