diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index af4578a50..d1516e71f 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -876,8 +876,9 @@ const postSetupTasks = async function (v6Failed, v4Failed, useIPv6, useIPv4) {
                 'Per-user basic authentication is enabled, but user accounts are disabled. This configuration may be insecure.',
             ));
         } else if (!perUserBasicAuth) {
-            const basicAuthUser = getConfigValue('basicAuthUser', {});
-            if (!basicAuthUser?.username || !basicAuthUser?.password) {
+            const basicAuthUserName = getConfigValue('basicAuthUser.username', '');
+            const basicAuthUserPassword = getConfigValue('basicAuthUser.password', '');
+            if (!basicAuthUserName || !basicAuthUserPassword) {
                 console.warn(color.yellow(
                     'Basic Authentication is enabled, but username or password is not set or empty!',
                 ));
diff --git a/src/middleware/basicAuth.js b/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
index 910bfaeb7..83f952398 100644
--- a/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
+++ b/src/middleware/basicAuth.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import { Buffer } from 'node:buffer';
 import storage from 'node-persist';
 import { getAllUserHandles, toKey, getPasswordHash } from '../users.js';
-import { getConfig, getConfigValue, safeReadFileSync } from '../util.js';
+import { getConfigValue, safeReadFileSync } from '../util.js';
 
 const PER_USER_BASIC_AUTH = getConfigValue('perUserBasicAuth', false, 'boolean');
 const ENABLE_ACCOUNTS = getConfigValue('enableUserAccounts', false, 'boolean');
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ const basicAuthMiddleware = async function (request, response, callback) {
         return res.status(401).send(unauthorizedWebpage);
     };
 
-    const config = getConfig();
+    const basicAuthUserName = getConfigValue('basicAuthUser.username');
+    const basicAuthUserPassword = getConfigValue('basicAuthUser.password');
     const authHeader = request.headers.authorization;
 
     if (!authHeader) {
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ const basicAuthMiddleware = async function (request, response, callback) {
         .toString('utf8')
         .split(':');
 
-    if (!usePerUserAuth && username === config.basicAuthUser.username && password === config.basicAuthUser.password) {
+    if (!usePerUserAuth && username === basicAuthUserName && password === basicAuthUserPassword) {
         return callback();
     } else if (usePerUserAuth) {
         const userHandles = await getAllUserHandles();