diff --git a/src/udprelay.c b/src/udprelay.c
index 1b81dbd3..4940ba52 100644
--- a/src/udprelay.c
+++ b/src/udprelay.c
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ int init_udprelay(const char *server_host, const char *server_port,
     setnonblocking(serverfd);
 
     server_ctx = new_server_ctx(serverfd);
-    server_ctx->timeout = timeout;
+    server_ctx->timeout = min(timeout, 5);
     server_ctx->method = method;
     server_ctx->iface = iface;
     server_ctx->conn_cache = conn_cache;