diff --git a/internal/conf/conf.go b/internal/conf/conf.go
index a7599419aac..7fc83bf58ed 100644
--- a/internal/conf/conf.go
+++ b/internal/conf/conf.go
@@ -495,6 +495,12 @@ func (conf Conf) Clone() *Conf {
 func (conf *Conf) Validate() error {
 	// General
 
+	if conf.ReadTimeout <= 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("'readTimeout' must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if conf.WriteTimeout <= 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("'writeTimeout' must be greater than zero")
+	}
 	if conf.ReadBufferCount != nil {
 		conf.WriteQueueSize = *conf.ReadBufferCount
 	}
@@ -506,6 +512,7 @@ func (conf *Conf) Validate() error {
 	}
 
 	// Authentication
+
 	if conf.ExternalAuthenticationURL != nil {
 		conf.AuthMethod = AuthMethodHTTP
 		conf.AuthHTTPAddress = *conf.ExternalAuthenticationURL
@@ -658,6 +665,7 @@ func (conf *Conf) Validate() error {
 	}
 
 	// Record (deprecated)
+
 	if conf.Record != nil {
 		conf.PathDefaults.Record = *conf.Record
 	}
diff --git a/internal/conf/conf_test.go b/internal/conf/conf_test.go
index 4bb3fe678c8..5d81674c26d 100644
--- a/internal/conf/conf_test.go
+++ b/internal/conf/conf_test.go
@@ -270,6 +270,16 @@ func TestConfErrors(t *testing.T) {
 			`invalid: param`,
 			"json: unknown field \"invalid\"",
 		},
+		{
+			"invalid readTimeout",
+			"readTimeout: 0s\n",
+			"'readTimeout' must be greater than zero",
+		},
+		{
+			"invalid writeTimeout",
+			"writeTimeout: 0s\n",
+			"'writeTimeout' must be greater than zero",
+		},
 		{
 			"invalid writeQueueSize",
 			"writeQueueSize: 1001\n",