diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ce479c29bb..3239824803 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 
 ### Linting
 
+- Only match assignments of params in `main.nf` and not references like `params.aligner == <something>` ([#2833](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/2833))
+
 ### Components
 
 ### General
diff --git a/nf_core/utils.py b/nf_core/utils.py
index 8ea6f418aa..9261388a39 100644
--- a/nf_core/utils.py
+++ b/nf_core/utils.py
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ def fetch_wf_config(wf_path, cache_config=True):
         main_nf = os.path.join(wf_path, "main.nf")
         with open(main_nf) as fh:
             for line in fh:
-                match = re.match(r"^\s*(params\.[a-zA-Z0-9_]+)\s*=", line)
+                match = re.match(r"^\s*(params\.[a-zA-Z0-9_]+)\s*=(?!=)", line)
                 if match:
                     config[match.group(1)] = "null"
     except FileNotFoundError as e: