diff --git a/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/config.go b/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/config.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b7791c16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/config.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package plg_backend_s3
+
+import (
+	. "github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash/server/common"
+	"time"
+)
+
+var ls_timeout func() time.Duration
+
+func init() {
+	ls_timeout = func() time.Duration {
+		return time.Duration(Config.Get("features.protection.ls_timeout").Schema(func(f *FormElement) *FormElement {
+			if f == nil {
+				f = &FormElement{}
+			}
+			f.Default = 2
+			f.Name = "ls_timeout"
+			f.Type = "number"
+			f.Target = []string{}
+			f.Description = "failsafe timeout for listing files under a folder"
+			f.Placeholder = "Default: 2"
+			return f
+		}).Int()) * time.Second
+	}
+	ls_timeout()
+}
diff --git a/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/index.go b/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/index.go
index 89ce4060..4292f142 100644
--- a/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/index.go
+++ b/server/plugin/plg_backend_s3/index.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 )
 
 var S3Cache AppCache
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ func (s S3Backend) Ls(path string) (files []os.FileInfo, err error) {
 	}
 	client := s3.New(s.createSession(p.bucket))
 
+	startTime := time.Now()
 	err = client.ListObjectsV2PagesWithContext(
 		s.context,
 		&s3.ListObjectsV2Input{
@@ -194,6 +196,11 @@ func (s S3Backend) Ls(path string) (files []os.FileInfo, err error) {
 					FType: "directory",
 				})
 			}
+
+			if time.Since(startTime) > ls_timeout() {
+				Log.Debug("plg_backend_s3::ls timeout triggered after getting %d files", len(files))
+				return false
+			}
 			return aws.BoolValue(objs.IsTruncated)
 		})
 	return files, err