diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c b/drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c
index 5dfd806fc2d2..604ab0e5a2ad 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/fabrics.c
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ static int nvmf_parse_options(struct nvmf_ctrl_options *opts,
 	opts->queue_size = NVMF_DEF_QUEUE_SIZE;
 	opts->nr_io_queues = num_online_cpus();
 	opts->reconnect_delay = NVMF_DEF_RECONNECT_DELAY;
-	opts->kato = NVME_DEFAULT_KATO;
+	opts->kato = 0;
 	opts->duplicate_connect = false;
 	opts->fast_io_fail_tmo = NVMF_DEF_FAIL_FAST_TMO;
 	opts->hdr_digest = false;
@@ -893,6 +893,9 @@ static int nvmf_parse_options(struct nvmf_ctrl_options *opts,
 		opts->nr_write_queues = 0;
 		opts->nr_poll_queues = 0;
 		opts->duplicate_connect = true;
+	} else {
+		if (!opts->kato)
+			opts->kato = NVME_DEFAULT_KATO;
 	}
 	if (ctrl_loss_tmo < 0) {
 		opts->max_reconnects = -1;