diff --git a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ClientConfig.java b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ClientConfig.java
index 4c00d522339..31668c19382 100644
--- a/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ClientConfig.java
+++ b/vertx-core/src/main/java/io/vertx/core/http/Http2ClientConfig.java
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ public Duration getKeepAliveTimeout() {
    * @return a reference to this, so the API can be used fluently
    */
   public Http2ClientConfig setKeepAliveTimeout(Duration keepAliveTimeout) {
-    if (keepAliveTimeout != null && (keepAliveTimeout.isNegative() || keepAliveTimeout.isZero())) {
+    if (keepAliveTimeout != null && (keepAliveTimeout.isNegative())) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("HTTP/2 keepAliveTimeout must be >= 0");
     }
     this.keepAliveTimeout = keepAliveTimeout;
diff --git a/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/HttpClientConfigTest.java b/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/HttpClientConfigTest.java
index 0544b27c48e..3efda1a4e68 100644
--- a/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/HttpClientConfigTest.java
+++ b/vertx-core/src/test/java/io/vertx/tests/http/HttpClientConfigTest.java
@@ -12,8 +12,10 @@
 
 import io.vertx.core.http.HttpClientOptions;
 import io.vertx.core.http.HttpClientConfig;
+import io.vertx.core.http.Http2ClientConfig;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import static io.vertx.core.http.HttpVersion.*;
@@ -60,4 +62,12 @@ public void testFromHttp1_0Options() {
     assertFalse(config.isSsl());
     assertEquals(List.of(HTTP_1_0), config.getVersions());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testHttp2KeepAliveTimeoutValidation() {
+    Http2ClientConfig config = new Http2ClientConfig();
+    assertSame(config, config.setKeepAliveTimeout(Duration.ZERO));
+    assertEquals(Duration.ZERO, config.getKeepAliveTimeout());
+    assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> config.setKeepAliveTimeout(Duration.ofMillis(-1)));
+  }
 }