diff --git a/src/constants.js b/src/constants.js
index 0ebb850aa..d6db8c4da 100644
--- a/src/constants.js
+++ b/src/constants.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ exports = module.exports = {
     ADMIN_CLIENT_ID: 'webadmin', // oauth client id
     ADMIN_APPID: 'admin', // admin appid (settingsdb)
 
-    GHOST_USER_FILE: '/tmp/cloudron_ghost',
+    GHOST_USER_FILE: '/tmp/cloudron_ghost.json',
 
     DEFAULT_MEMORY_LIMIT: (256 * 1024 * 1024) // see also client.js
 };
diff --git a/src/user.js b/src/user.js
index 087b54096..d8777985b 100644
--- a/src/user.js
+++ b/src/user.js
@@ -196,8 +196,7 @@ function verifyGhost(username, password) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof username, 'string');
     assert.strictEqual(typeof password, 'string');
 
-    var ghostFile = safe.fs.readFileSync(constants.GHOST_USER_FILE, 'utf8');
-    var ghostData = safe.JSON.parse(ghostFile);
+    var ghostData = safe.require(constants.GHOST_USER_FILE);
     if (!ghostData) return false;
 
     if (username in ghostData && ghostData[username] === password) {