diff --git a/intelmq/bin/intelmqdump.py b/intelmq/bin/intelmqdump.py
index eb254d166..936046905 100644
--- a/intelmq/bin/intelmqdump.py
+++ b/intelmq/bin/intelmqdump.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ def main(argv=None):
     try:
         defaults = utils.get_global_settings()
     except Exception:
+        defaults = {}
         log_level = DEFAULT_LOGGING_LEVEL
 
     try:
@@ -207,7 +208,6 @@ def main(argv=None):
     readline.parse_and_bind("tab: complete")
     readline.set_completer_delims('')
 
-    defaults = utils.get_global_settings()
     runtime_config = utils.get_runtime()
     pipeline_pipes = {}
     logging_paths = {defaults.get('logging_path', DEFAULT_LOGGING_PATH)}
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqdump.py b/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqdump.py
index fc1973eb6..05e609f06 100644
--- a/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqdump.py
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqdump.py
@@ -108,6 +108,18 @@ def test_list_dumps_for_all_bots_from_default_log_path(self, _):
         self.assertIn("0: test-1 empty file", output[1])
         self.assertIn("1: test-2 empty file", output[2])
 
+    @skip_installation()
+    @mock.patch.object(intelmqdump, "input", return_value='q')
+    def test_list_dumps_when_defaults_cannot_be_loaded(self, _):
+        self._prepare_empty_dump('test-1')
+
+        intelmqdump.utils.get_global_settings.side_effect = OSError("missing runtime")
+
+        with mock.patch.object(intelmqdump, "DEFAULT_LOGGING_PATH", self.tmp_log_dir.name):
+            output = self._run_main([])
+
+        self.assertIn("0: test-1 empty file", output[1])
+
     @skip_installation()
     @mock.patch.object(intelmqdump, "input", return_value='q')
     def test_list_dumps_for_all_bots_from_custom_locations(self, _):