diff --git a/setup/start/nginx/nginx.conf b/setup/start/nginx/nginx.conf
index b892a1611..ce923e9a4 100644
--- a/setup/start/nginx/nginx.conf
+++ b/setup/start/nginx/nginx.conf
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ http {
 
     sendfile        on;
 
+    # timeout for client to finish sending headers
+    client_header_timeout 30s;
+
+    # timeout for reading client request body (successive read timeout and not whole body!)
+    client_body_timeout 60s;
+
     # keep-alive connections timeout in 65s. this is because many browsers timeout in 60 seconds
     keepalive_timeout  65s;
 
diff --git a/src/server.js b/src/server.js
index b44c93edc..5e51c813b 100644
--- a/src/server.js
+++ b/src/server.js
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ function initializeExpressSync() {
     router.get ('/api/v1/backups/:backupId', appsScope, routes.user.requireAdmin, routes.backups.download);
 
     // disable server socket "idle" timeout. we use the timeout middleware to handle timeouts on a route level
-    // we rely on nginx for timeouts on the TCP level
+    // we rely on nginx for timeouts on the TCP level (see client_header_timeout)
     httpServer.setTimeout(0);
 
     // upgrade handler