diff --git a/src/detect-engine-loader.c b/src/detect-engine-loader.c
index 217665b24a..4b66eefa80 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine-loader.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine-loader.c
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ int SigLoadSignatures(DetectEngineCtx *de_ctx, char *sig_file, int sig_file_excl
         ret = ProcessSigFiles(de_ctx, sig_file, sig_stat, &good_sigs, &bad_sigs);
 
         if (ret != 0) {
-            if (de_ctx->failure_fatal == 1) {
+            if (de_ctx->failure_fatal) {
                 exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/detect-engine.c b/src/detect-engine.c
index 83756018ca..111dab7f0d 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine.c
@@ -2479,9 +2479,11 @@ static DetectEngineCtx *DetectEngineCtxInitReal(enum DetectEngineType type, cons
         strlcpy(de_ctx->config_prefix, prefix, sizeof(de_ctx->config_prefix));
     }
 
-    if (ConfGetBool("engine.init-failure-fatal", (int *)&(de_ctx->failure_fatal)) != 1) {
+    int failure_fatal = 0;
+    if (ConfGetBool("engine.init-failure-fatal", (int *)&failure_fatal) != 1) {
         SCLogDebug("ConfGetBool could not load the value.");
     }
+    de_ctx->failure_fatal = (failure_fatal == 1);
 
     de_ctx->mpm_matcher = PatternMatchDefaultMatcher();
     de_ctx->spm_matcher = SinglePatternMatchDefaultMatcher();
diff --git a/src/detect.h b/src/detect.h
index e462933c2c..dada307da2 100644
--- a/src/detect.h
+++ b/src/detect.h
@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ enum DetectEngineType
 
 /** \brief main detection engine ctx */
 typedef struct DetectEngineCtx_ {
-    int failure_fatal;
+    bool failure_fatal;
 
     int tenant_id;
 
diff --git a/src/reputation.c b/src/reputation.c
index d10a3143c8..7313012d17 100644
--- a/src/reputation.c
+++ b/src/reputation.c
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ int SRepInit(DetectEngineCtx *de_ctx)
 
                 int r = SRepLoadFile(cidr_ctx, sfile);
                 if (r < 0){
-                    if (de_ctx->failure_fatal == 1) {
+                    if (de_ctx->failure_fatal) {
                         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
                     }
                 }