diff --git a/src/conf-file-processor.cpp b/src/conf-file-processor.cpp
index b3067a3..9a100ec 100644
--- a/src/conf-file-processor.cpp
+++ b/src/conf-file-processor.cpp
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include <fstream>
 
 #include <ndn-cxx/name.hpp>
+#include <ndn-cxx/util/face-uri.hpp>
 
 // boost needs to be included after ndn-cxx, otherwise there will be conflict with _1, _2, ...
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
@@ -499,6 +500,14 @@ ConfFileProcessor::processConfSectionNeighbors(const ConfigSection& section)
         ConfigSection CommandAttriTree = tn->second;
         std::string name = CommandAttriTree.get<std::string>("name");
         std::string faceUri = CommandAttriTree.get<std::string>("face-uri");
+
+        ndn::util::FaceUri uri;
+
+        if (!uri.parse(faceUri)) {
+          std::cerr << "Malformed face-uri <" << faceUri << "> for " << name << std::endl;
+          return false;
+        }
+
         double linkCost = CommandAttriTree.get<double>("link-cost",
                                                        Adjacent::DEFAULT_LINK_COST);
         ndn::Name neighborName(name);
@@ -671,4 +680,4 @@ ConfFileProcessor::processConfSectionSecurity(const ConfigSection& section)
   return true;
 }
 
-} // namespace nlsr
\ No newline at end of file
+} // namespace nlsr
diff --git a/tests/test-conf-file-processor.cpp b/tests/test-conf-file-processor.cpp
index 25d1433..ab24215 100644
--- a/tests/test-conf-file-processor.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-conf-file-processor.cpp
@@ -333,6 +333,27 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Log4cxxTestCase)
   verifyOutputLog4cxx(EXPECTED, sizeof(EXPECTED) / sizeof(std::string));
 }
 
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(MalformedUri)
+{
+  const std::string MALFORMED_URI =
+    "neighbors\n"
+    "{\n"
+    "  hello-retries 3\n"
+    "  hello-timeout 1\n"
+    "  hello-interval  60\n\n"
+    "  adj-lsa-build-interval 3\n"
+    "  first-hello-interval  6\n"
+    "  neighbor\n"
+    "  {\n"
+    "    name /ndn/memphis.edu/cs/castor\n"
+    "    face-uri  udp4:malformed-uri\n"
+    "    link-cost 20\n"
+    "  }\n"
+    "}\n\n";
+
+  BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(processConfigurationString(MALFORMED_URI), false);
+}
+
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(Hyperbolic)
 {
   processConfigurationString(CONFIG_HYPERBOLIC);
@@ -393,4 +414,4 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(OutOfRangeValue)
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()
 
 } //namespace test
-} //namespace nlsr
\ No newline at end of file
+} //namespace nlsr