diff --git a/src/common/read_config.c b/src/common/read_config.c
index 28e57ef0904c4b90f848f988a385b1200e872cb0..4b266ffd11d7186107ccf3b234954f6fc8b33c7c 100644
--- a/src/common/read_config.c
+++ b/src/common/read_config.c
@@ -1558,6 +1558,8 @@ static int _get_hash_idx(const char *name)
 	index %= NAME_HASH_LEN;
 	if (index < 0)
 		index += NAME_HASH_LEN;
+	if (index < 0)
+		index = 0 /* Can never happen, but clears a Coverity error */
 
 	return index;
 }