diff --git a/src/lxc/conf.h b/src/lxc/conf.h
index 6532d8e27..283042c78 100644
--- a/src/lxc/conf.h
+++ b/src/lxc/conf.h
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ struct lxc_conf {
 	scmp_filter_ctx seccomp_ctx;
 #endif
 	int maincmd_fd;
-	int autodev;  // if 1, mount and fill a /dev at start
+	unsigned int autodev;  // if 1, mount and fill a /dev at start
 	int haltsignal; // signal used to halt container
 	int rebootsignal; // signal used to reboot container
 	int stopsignal; // signal used to hard stop container
diff --git a/src/lxc/confile.c b/src/lxc/confile.c
index 331a36dd9..dad7a73f3 100644
--- a/src/lxc/confile.c
+++ b/src/lxc/confile.c
@@ -1346,9 +1346,13 @@ static int config_loglevel(const char *key, const char *value,
 static int config_autodev(const char *key, const char *value,
 			  struct lxc_conf *lxc_conf)
 {
-	int v = atoi(value);
+	if (lxc_safe_uint(value, &lxc_conf->autodev) < 0)
+		return -1;
 
-	lxc_conf->autodev = v;
+	if (lxc_conf->autodev > 1) {
+		ERROR("Wrong value for lxc.autodev. Can only be set to 0 or 1");
+		return -1;
+	}
 
 	return 0;
 }