diff --git a/src/aleph/config.py b/src/aleph/config.py
index afafb9f28..8c378e40d 100644
--- a/src/aleph/config.py
+++ b/src/aleph/config.py
@@ -213,6 +213,8 @@ def get_defaults():
                 # Timeout for pinning operations (seconds)
                 "timeout": 60,
             },
+            # Timeout for file stat requests (seconds)
+            "stat_timeout": 30,
         },
         "rabbitmq": {
             # Hostname of the RabbitMQ service.
diff --git a/src/aleph/handlers/content/store.py b/src/aleph/handlers/content/store.py
index e4c3f148f..4ad39a652 100644
--- a/src/aleph/handlers/content/store.py
+++ b/src/aleph/handlers/content/store.py
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ async def fetch_related_content(
                 try:
                     # The timeout of the aioipfs client does not seem to work, time out manually
                     stats = await asyncio.wait_for(
-                        ipfs_client.files.stat(f"/ipfs/{item_hash}"), 5
+                        ipfs_client.files.stat(f"/ipfs/{item_hash}"),
+                        config.ipfs.stat_timeout.value,
                     )
                 except aioipfs.InvalidCIDError as e:
                     raise UnknownHashError(
diff --git a/src/aleph/web/controllers/ipfs.py b/src/aleph/web/controllers/ipfs.py
index 828d61379..1d63fb22f 100644
--- a/src/aleph/web/controllers/ipfs.py
+++ b/src/aleph/web/controllers/ipfs.py
@@ -53,10 +53,14 @@ async def ipfs_add_file(request: web.Request):
 
     # IPFS add returns the cumulative size and not the real file size.
     # We need the real file size here.
-    stats = await asyncio.wait_for(
-        ipfs_service.ipfs_client.files.stat(f"/ipfs/{cid}"), 5
-    )
-    size = stats["Size"]
+    try:
+        stats = await asyncio.wait_for(
+            ipfs_service.ipfs_client.files.stat(f"/ipfs/{cid}"),
+            config.ipfs.stat_timeout.value,
+        )
+        size = stats["Size"]
+    except TimeoutError:
+        raise web.HTTPNotFound(reason="File not found on IPFS")
 
     with session_factory() as session:
         upsert_file(