diff --git a/src/directoryserver.js b/src/directoryserver.js
index 94a72ec24..896245fdb 100644
--- a/src/directoryserver.js
+++ b/src/directoryserver.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ async function setConfig(directoryServerConfig, auditSource) {
     const config = {
         enabled: directoryServerConfig.enabled,
         secret: directoryServerConfig.secret,
-        allowlist: directoryServerConfig.allowlist
+        allowlist: directoryServerConfig.allowlist || ''
     };
 
     await validateConfig(config);