diff --git a/src/util-strings.c b/src/util-strings.c
index 71a3387..41c1d95 100644
--- a/src/util-strings.c
+++ b/src/util-strings.c
@@ -658,4 +658,70 @@ MUNIT_TEST(test_strv_from_mem)
 
 	return MUNIT_OK;
 }
+
+MUNIT_TEST(test_xatou)
+{
+	unsigned int val;
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou("0", &val));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 0);
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou("1", &val));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 1);
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou("123", &val));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 123);
+
+	/* UINT_MAX is the upper boundary, must succeed */
+	munit_assert_true(xatou("4294967295", &val));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, UINT_MAX);
+
+	/* UINT_MAX + 1 must fail */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("4294967296", &val));
+
+	/* Another random value in the range UINT_MAX < val < LONG_MAX */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("8589934592", &val));
+
+	/* LONG_MAX as string - must fail */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("9223372036854775807", &val));
+
+	/* Overflow beyond ULONG_MAX - strtoul sets errno, must fail */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("18446744073709551616", &val));
+
+	/* negative numbers: strtoul wraps "-1" to ULONG_MAX without
+	 * setting errno, but v > UINT_MAX catches it */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("-1", &val));
+
+	/* invalid strings */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("", &val));
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("abc", &val));
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("123abc", &val));
+	munit_assert_false(xatou("12 34", &val));
+
+	/* hex via xatou_base */
+	munit_assert_true(xatou_base("ff", &val, 16));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 0xff);
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou_base("0xff", &val, 16));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 0xff);
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou_base("FFFFFFFF", &val, 16));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, UINT_MAX);
+
+	/* hex UINT_MAX + 1 */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou_base("100000000", &val, 16));
+
+	/* octal */
+	munit_assert_true(xatou_base("77", &val, 8));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, 077);
+
+	munit_assert_true(xatou_base("37777777777", &val, 8));
+	munit_assert_uint(val, ==, UINT_MAX);
+
+	/* octal UINT_MAX + 1 */
+	munit_assert_false(xatou_base("40000000000", &val, 8));
+
+	return MUNIT_OK;
+}
+
 #endif
diff --git a/src/util-strings.h b/src/util-strings.h
index f82874d..e62df4c 100644
--- a/src/util-strings.h
+++ b/src/util-strings.h
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ xatou_base(const char *str, unsigned int *val, int base)
 	if (*str != '\0' && *endptr != '\0')
 		return false;
 
-	if ((long)v < 0)
+	if (v > UINT_MAX)
 		return false;
 
 	*val = v;