diff --git a/server/etcdmain/config.go b/server/etcdmain/config.go
index ef7dcc283..6cc3e08e5 100644
--- a/server/etcdmain/config.go
+++ b/server/etcdmain/config.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/pkg/v3/flags"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/pkg/v3/logutil"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/embed"
+	"go.etcd.io/etcd/server/v3/etcdserver/api/rafthttp"
 
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
@@ -161,6 +162,10 @@ func newConfig() *config {
 	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.ec.GRPCKeepAliveInterval, "grpc-keepalive-interval", cfg.ec.GRPCKeepAliveInterval, "Frequency duration of server-to-client ping to check if a connection is alive (0 to disable).")
 	fs.DurationVar(&cfg.ec.GRPCKeepAliveTimeout, "grpc-keepalive-timeout", cfg.ec.GRPCKeepAliveTimeout, "Additional duration of wait before closing a non-responsive connection (0 to disable).")
 
+	// raft connection timeouts
+	fs.DurationVar(&rafthttp.ConnReadTimeout, "raft-read-timeout", rafthttp.DefaultConnReadTimeout, "Read timeout set on each rafthttp connection")
+	fs.DurationVar(&rafthttp.ConnWriteTimeout, "raft-write-timeout", rafthttp.DefaultConnWriteTimeout, "Write timeout set on each rafthttp connection")
+
 	// clustering
 	fs.Var(
 		flags.NewUniqueURLsWithExceptions(embed.DefaultInitialAdvertisePeerURLs, ""),
@@ -337,6 +342,15 @@ func (cfg *config) configFromCmdLine() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if rafthttp.ConnReadTimeout < rafthttp.DefaultConnReadTimeout {
+		rafthttp.ConnReadTimeout = rafthttp.DefaultConnReadTimeout
+		lg.Info(fmt.Sprintf("raft-read-timeout increased to minimum value: %v", rafthttp.DefaultConnReadTimeout))
+	}
+	if rafthttp.ConnWriteTimeout < rafthttp.DefaultConnWriteTimeout {
+		rafthttp.ConnWriteTimeout = rafthttp.DefaultConnWriteTimeout
+		lg.Info(fmt.Sprintf("raft-write-timeout increased to minimum value: %v", rafthttp.DefaultConnWriteTimeout))
+	}
+
 	cfg.ec.LPUrls = flags.UniqueURLsFromFlag(cfg.cf.flagSet, "listen-peer-urls")
 	cfg.ec.APUrls = flags.UniqueURLsFromFlag(cfg.cf.flagSet, "initial-advertise-peer-urls")
 	cfg.ec.LCUrls = flags.UniqueURLsFromFlag(cfg.cf.flagSet, "listen-client-urls")
diff --git a/server/etcdserver/api/rafthttp/peer.go b/server/etcdserver/api/rafthttp/peer.go
index 136bc075c..ab6881eee 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/api/rafthttp/peer.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/api/rafthttp/peer.go
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ const (
 	// to keep the connection alive.
 	// For short term pipeline connections, the connection MUST be killed to avoid it being
 	// put back to http pkg connection pool.
-	ConnReadTimeout  = 5 * time.Second
-	ConnWriteTimeout = 5 * time.Second
+	DefaultConnReadTimeout  = 5 * time.Second
+	DefaultConnWriteTimeout = 5 * time.Second
 
 	recvBufSize = 4096
 	// maxPendingProposals holds the proposals during one leader election process.
@@ -55,6 +55,11 @@ const (
 	sendSnap    = "sendMsgSnap"
 )
 
+var (
+	ConnReadTimeout  = DefaultConnReadTimeout
+	ConnWriteTimeout = DefaultConnWriteTimeout
+)
+
 type Peer interface {
 	// send sends the message to the remote peer. The function is non-blocking
 	// and has no promise that the message will be received by the remote.
diff --git a/server/etcdserver/server.go b/server/etcdserver/server.go
index 5c5a9fb67..01fdc0c3f 100644
--- a/server/etcdserver/server.go
+++ b/server/etcdserver/server.go
@@ -85,10 +85,6 @@ const (
 	HealthInterval = 5 * time.Second
 
 	purgeFileInterval = 30 * time.Second
-	// monitorVersionInterval should be smaller than the timeout
-	// on the connection. Or we will not be able to reuse the connection
-	// (since it will timeout).
-	monitorVersionInterval = rafthttp.ConnWriteTimeout - time.Second
 
 	// max number of in-flight snapshot messages etcdserver allows to have
 	// This number is more than enough for most clusters with 5 machines.
@@ -107,6 +103,11 @@ const (
 )
 
 var (
+	// monitorVersionInterval should be smaller than the timeout
+	// on the connection. Or we will not be able to reuse the connection
+	// (since it will timeout).
+	monitorVersionInterval = rafthttp.ConnWriteTimeout - time.Second
+
 	recommendedMaxRequestBytesString = humanize.Bytes(uint64(recommendedMaxRequestBytes))
 	storeMemberAttributeRegexp       = regexp.MustCompile(path.Join(membership.StoreMembersPrefix, "[[:xdigit:]]{1,16}", "attributes"))
 )