diff --git a/src/vty/command.c b/src/vty/command.c
index 16dd07f..278ceb5 100644
--- a/src/vty/command.c
+++ b/src/vty/command.c
@@ -1325,6 +1325,9 @@
 	} else {
 		unsigned long min, max, val;
 
+		if (str[0] == '-')
+			return 0;
+
 		val = strtoul(str, &endptr, 10);
 		if (*endptr != '\0')
 			return 0;
diff --git a/tests/vty/vty_test.c b/tests/vty/vty_test.c
index a7aef11..b2d34ad 100644
--- a/tests/vty/vty_test.c
+++ b/tests/vty/vty_test.c
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@
 
 	OSMO_ASSERT(do_vty_command(vty, "numeric-range 0") == CMD_SUCCESS);
 	OSMO_ASSERT(do_vty_command(vty, "numeric-range 40000") == CMD_SUCCESS);
-	OSMO_ASSERT(do_vty_command(vty, "numeric-range -400000") == CMD_SUCCESS);
+	OSMO_ASSERT(do_vty_command(vty, "numeric-range -400000") == CMD_ERR_NO_MATCH);
 
 	destroy_test_vty(&test, vty);
 }
diff --git a/tests/vty/vty_test.ok b/tests/vty/vty_test.ok
index bac083d..5f509f6 100644
--- a/tests/vty/vty_test.ok
+++ b/tests/vty/vty_test.ok
@@ -319,6 +319,5 @@
 Called: 'return-success'
 Returned: 0, Current node: 1 '%s> '
 Going to execute 'numeric-range -400000'
-Called: 'return-success'
-Returned: 0, Current node: 1 '%s> '
+Returned: 2, Current node: 1 '%s> '
 All tests passed