diff --git a/src/allmydata/node.py b/src/allmydata/node.py
index 24addd3cd..1aa28a378 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/node.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/node.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def read_config(basedir, portnumfile, generated_files=[], _valid_config=None):
 
     # (try to) read the main config file
     config_fname = os.path.join(basedir, "tahoe.cfg")
-    parser = configparser.SafeConfigParser()
+    parser = configparser.ConfigParser()
     try:
         parser = configutil.get_config(config_fname)
     except EnvironmentError as e:
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ def config_from_string(basedir, portnumfile, config_str, _valid_config=None):
         _valid_config = _common_valid_config()
 
     # load configuration from in-memory string
-    parser = configparser.SafeConfigParser()
+    parser = configparser.ConfigParser()
     if isinstance(config_str, bytes):
         config_str = config_str.decode("utf-8")
     parser.read_string(config_str)
diff --git a/src/allmydata/util/configutil.py b/src/allmydata/util/configutil.py
index 287620c2f..a80921972 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/util/configutil.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/util/configutil.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ if PY2:
 
 # On Python 2 we use the backport package; that means we always get unicode
 # out.
-from configparser import SafeConfigParser
+from configparser import ConfigParser
 
 import attr
 
@@ -30,11 +30,11 @@ class UnknownConfigError(Exception):
 
 
 def get_config(tahoe_cfg):
-    """Load the config, returning a SafeConfigParser.
+    """Load the config, returning a ConfigParser.
 
     Configuration is returned as native strings.
     """
-    config = SafeConfigParser(strict=False)
+    config = ConfigParser(strict=False)
     # Byte Order Mark is an optional garbage byte you sometimes get at the
     # start of UTF-8 encoded files. Especially on Windows. Skip it by using
     # utf-8-sig. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark