diff --git a/src/swsssdk/dbconnector.py b/src/swsssdk/dbconnector.py
index d2636399..23991e41 100644
--- a/src/swsssdk/dbconnector.py
+++ b/src/swsssdk/dbconnector.py
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ def __init__(self, use_unix_socket_path=False, namespace=None, decode_responses=
             kwargs['decode_responses'] = True
 
         self.dbintf = DBInterface(**kwargs)
-        self.use_unix_socket_path = use_unix_socket_path
+        self.use_unix_socket_path = True if use_unix_socket_path and os.getuid() == 0 else False
 
         """If the user don't give the namespace as input, it refers to the local namespace
            where this application is run. (It could be a network namespace or linux host namesapce)