diff --git a/src/core/initrd/nmi-cmdline-reader.c b/src/core/initrd/nmi-cmdline-reader.c
index 7773b30f1..3e636b7ac 100644
--- a/src/core/initrd/nmi-cmdline-reader.c
+++ b/src/core/initrd/nmi-cmdline-reader.c
@@ -1085,8 +1085,12 @@ nmi_cmdline_reader_parse(const char *       sysfs_dir,
         else if (nm_streq(tag, "rd.peerdns"))
             reader->ignore_auto_dns = !_nm_utils_ascii_str_to_bool(argument, TRUE);
         else if (nm_streq(tag, "rd.net.timeout.dhcp")) {
-            reader->dhcp_timeout =
-                _nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64(argument, 10, 1, G_MAXINT32, reader->dhcp_timeout);
+            if (nm_streq0(argument, "infinity")) {
+                reader->dhcp_timeout = G_MAXINT32;
+            } else {
+                reader->dhcp_timeout =
+                    _nm_utils_ascii_str_to_int64(argument, 10, 1, G_MAXINT32, reader->dhcp_timeout);
+            }
         } else if (nm_streq(tag, "rd.net.dhcp.vendor-class")) {
             if (nm_utils_validate_dhcp4_vendor_class_id(argument, NULL))
                 nm_utils_strdup_reset(&reader->dhcp4_vci, argument);
diff --git a/src/core/initrd/tests/test-cmdline-reader.c b/src/core/initrd/tests/test-cmdline-reader.c
index 6f3dd1a50..6795e32d3 100644
--- a/src/core/initrd/tests/test-cmdline-reader.c
+++ b/src/core/initrd/tests/test-cmdline-reader.c
@@ -240,6 +240,7 @@ test_dhcp_timeout(void)
         {NM_MAKE_STRV("ip=dhcp", "rd.net.timeout.dhcp=0"), 90},
         {NM_MAKE_STRV("ip=dhcp", "rd.net.timeout.dhcp=foobar"), 90},
         {NM_MAKE_STRV("ip=dhcp", "rd.net.timeout.dhcp=42"), 42},
+        {NM_MAKE_STRV("ip=dhcp", "rd.net.timeout.dhcp=infinity"), G_MAXINT32},
     };
     guint i;