diff --git a/tools/perf/util/config.c b/tools/perf/util/config.c
index 6c86eca8b1b7..fe02903f7d0f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/config.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/config.c
@@ -413,13 +413,32 @@ int perf_config(config_fn_t fn, void *data)
 	home = getenv("HOME");
 	if (perf_config_global() && home) {
 		char *user_config = strdup(mkpath("%s/.perfconfig", home));
-		if (!access(user_config, R_OK)) {
-			ret += perf_config_from_file(fn, user_config, data);
-			found += 1;
+		struct stat st;
+
+		if (user_config == NULL) {
+			warning("Not enough memory to process %s/.perfconfig, "
+				"ignoring it.", home);
+			goto out;
 		}
+
+		if (stat(user_config, &st) < 0)
+			goto out_free;
+
+		if (st.st_uid && (st.st_uid != geteuid())) {
+			warning("File %s not owned by current user or root, "
+				"ignoring it.", user_config);
+			goto out_free;
+		}
+
+		if (!st.st_size)
+			goto out_free;
+
+		ret += perf_config_from_file(fn, user_config, data);
+		found += 1;
+out_free:
 		free(user_config);
 	}
-
+out:
 	if (found == 0)
 		return -1;
 	return ret;