diff --git a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
index 88652a8ce..2f953d77f 100644
--- a/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
+++ b/Shorewall/Perl/Shorewall/Config.pm
@@ -2892,7 +2892,7 @@ sub get_params() {
 	fatal_error "Processing of $fn failed" if $?;
 
 	for ( @params ) {
-	    if ( /^(?:(.*?)=)(.*)$/ ) {
+	    if ( /^(.*?)=(.*)$/ ) {
 		$params{$1} = $2 unless $1 eq '_';
 	    } else {
 		assert(0);