diff --git a/CHANGELOG-3.5.md b/CHANGELOG-3.5.md
index 5d01752f951..85db0c87871 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-3.5.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-3.5.md
@@ -8,6 +8,16 @@ The minimum recommended etcd versions to run in **production** are 3.2.28+, 3.3.
 
 <hr>
 
+## [v3.5.1](https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.1) (TBD)
+
+See [code changes](https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/compare/v3.5.0...v3.5.1) and [v3.5 upgrade guide](https://etcd.io/docs/latest/upgrades/upgrade_3_5/) for any breaking changes.
+
+### etcd server
+
+- Fix [self-signed-cert-validity parameter cannot be specified in the config file](https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/pull/13237).
+
+
+<hr>
 
 ## v3.5.0 (2021-06)
 
diff --git a/etcd.conf.yml.sample b/etcd.conf.yml.sample
index 0d7a2c6b3d1..16da4f8fe76 100644
--- a/etcd.conf.yml.sample
+++ b/etcd.conf.yml.sample
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ peer-transport-security:
   # Peer TLS using generated certificates.
   auto-tls: false
 
+# The validity period of the self-signed certificate, the unit is year.
+self-signed-cert-validity: 1
+
 # Enable debug-level logging for etcd.
 log-level: debug
 
diff --git a/server/embed/config.go b/server/embed/config.go
index fb4f9aee1ed..044b133e3e4 100644
--- a/server/embed/config.go
+++ b/server/embed/config.go
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	// SelfSignedCertValidity specifies the validity period of the client and peer certificates
 	// that are automatically generated by etcd when you specify ClientAutoTLS and PeerAutoTLS,
 	// the unit is year, and the default is 1
-	SelfSignedCertValidity uint
+	SelfSignedCertValidity uint `json:"self-signed-cert-validity"`
 
 	// CipherSuites is a list of supported TLS cipher suites between
 	// client/server and peers. If empty, Go auto-populates the list.
@@ -596,7 +596,9 @@ func (cfg *configYAML) configFromFile(path string) error {
 	copySecurityDetails(&cfg.PeerTLSInfo, &cfg.PeerSecurityJSON)
 	cfg.ClientAutoTLS = cfg.ClientSecurityJSON.AutoTLS
 	cfg.PeerAutoTLS = cfg.PeerSecurityJSON.AutoTLS
-
+	if cfg.SelfSignedCertValidity == 0 {
+		cfg.SelfSignedCertValidity = 1
+	}
 	return cfg.Validate()
 }