diff --git a/patroni/postgresql.py b/patroni/postgresql.py
index 6452aea4..a8cfd7be 100644
--- a/patroni/postgresql.py
+++ b/patroni/postgresql.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import re
 import shlex
 import shutil
 import socket
+import stat
 import subprocess
 import tempfile
 import time
@@ -1186,6 +1187,7 @@ class Postgresql(object):
 
     def write_recovery_conf(self, recovery_params):
         with open(self._recovery_conf, 'w') as f:
+            os.chmod(self._recovery_conf, stat.S_IWRITE | stat.S_IREAD)
             for name, value in recovery_params.items():
                 f.write("{0} = '{1}'\n".format(name, value))