diff --git a/device/noise-types.go b/device/noise-types.go
index 6b1f16f..a1976ff 100644
--- a/device/noise-types.go
+++ b/device/noise-types.go
@@ -52,6 +52,15 @@ func (key *NoisePrivateKey) FromHex(src string) (err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+func (key *NoisePrivateKey) FromMaybeZeroHex(src string) (err error) {
+	err = loadExactHex(key[:], src)
+	if key.IsZero() {
+		return
+	}
+	key.clamp()
+	return
+}
+
 func (key NoisePrivateKey) ToHex() string {
 	return hex.EncodeToString(key[:])
 }
diff --git a/device/uapi.go b/device/uapi.go
index 999eeb5..72611ab 100644
--- a/device/uapi.go
+++ b/device/uapi.go
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ func (device *Device) IpcSetOperation(socket *bufio.Reader) *IPCError {
 			switch key {
 			case "private_key":
 				var sk NoisePrivateKey
-				err := sk.FromHex(value)
+				err := sk.FromMaybeZeroHex(value)
 				if err != nil {
 					logError.Println("Failed to set private_key:", err)
 					return &IPCError{ipc.IpcErrorInvalid}