diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f380f19cf..fc36f594e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 - [#2973](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/2973): Change default prometheus_client port.
 - [#2661](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/2661): Add fluentd input plugin.
 - [#2990](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/2990): Add result_type field to net_response input plugin.
+- [#2571](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/pull/2571): Add read timeout to socket_listener
 
 ### Bugfixes
 
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/README.md b/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/README.md
index 7baa0bffc..698f3aeee 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ This is a sample configuration for the plugin.
   ## 0 (default) is unlimited.
   # max_connections = 1024
 
+  ## Read timeout.
+  ## Only applies to stream sockets (e.g. TCP).
+  ## 0 (default) is unlimited.
+  # read_timeout = "30s"
+
   ## Maximum socket buffer size in bytes.
   ## For stream sockets, once the buffer fills up, the sender will start backing up.
   ## For datagram sockets, once the buffer fills up, metrics will start dropping.
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/socket_listener.go b/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/socket_listener.go
index 839b28368..965a6a870 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/socket_listener.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/socket_listener/socket_listener.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
+	"time"
+
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/internal"
 	"github.com/influxdata/telegraf/plugins/inputs"
@@ -91,7 +93,13 @@ func (ssl *streamSocketListener) read(c net.Conn) {
 	defer c.Close()
 
 	scnr := bufio.NewScanner(c)
-	for scnr.Scan() {
+	for {
+		if ssl.ReadTimeout != nil && ssl.ReadTimeout.Duration > 0 {
+			c.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(ssl.ReadTimeout.Duration))
+		}
+		if !scnr.Scan() {
+			break
+		}
 		metrics, err := ssl.Parse(scnr.Bytes())
 		if err != nil {
 			ssl.AddError(fmt.Errorf("unable to parse incoming line: %s", err))
@@ -104,7 +112,9 @@ func (ssl *streamSocketListener) read(c net.Conn) {
 	}
 
 	if err := scnr.Err(); err != nil {
-		if !strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), ": use of closed network connection") {
+		if err, ok := err.(net.Error); ok && err.Timeout() {
+			log.Printf("D! Timeout in plugin [input.socket_listener]: %s", err)
+		} else if !strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), ": use of closed network connection") {
 			ssl.AddError(err)
 		}
 	}
@@ -142,6 +152,7 @@ type SocketListener struct {
 	ServiceAddress  string
 	MaxConnections  int
 	ReadBufferSize  int
+	ReadTimeout     *internal.Duration
 	KeepAlivePeriod *internal.Duration
 
 	parsers.Parser
@@ -172,6 +183,11 @@ func (sl *SocketListener) SampleConfig() string {
   ## 0 (default) is unlimited.
   # max_connections = 1024
 
+  ## Read timeout.
+  ## Only applies to stream sockets (e.g. TCP).
+  ## 0 (default) is unlimited.
+  # read_timeout = "30s"
+
   ## Maximum socket buffer size in bytes.
   ## For stream sockets, once the buffer fills up, the sender will start backing up.
   ## For datagram sockets, once the buffer fills up, metrics will start dropping.