diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/health/RestClusterHealthAction.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/health/RestClusterHealthAction.java
index bdda24d13c8..fe5939c2e1b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/health/RestClusterHealthAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/admin/cluster/health/RestClusterHealthAction.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ public class RestClusterHealthAction extends BaseRestHandler {
         ClusterHealthRequest clusterHealthRequest = clusterHealthRequest(RestActions.splitIndices(request.param("index")));
         int level = 0;
         try {
+            clusterHealthRequest.masterNodeTimeout(request.paramAsTime("master_timeout", clusterHealthRequest.masterNodeTimeout()));
             clusterHealthRequest.timeout(request.paramAsTime("timeout", clusterHealthRequest.timeout()));
             String waitForStatus = request.param("wait_for_status");
             if (waitForStatus != null) {