diff --git a/cmd/s3-gw/app.go b/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
index 96ad889e..5e19f011 100644
--- a/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
+++ b/cmd/s3-gw/app.go
@@ -253,7 +253,6 @@ func (s *appSettings) update(v *viper.Viper, log *zap.Logger) {
 	vhsEnabled := v.GetBool(cfgVHSEnabled)
 	vhsHeader := v.GetString(cfgVHSHeader)
 	servernameHeader := v.GetString(cfgServernameHeader)
-	vhsNamespacesEnabled := s.prepareVHSNamespaces(v, log)
 	httpLoggingEnabled := v.GetBool(cfgHTTPLoggingEnabled)
 	httpLoggingMaxBody := v.GetInt64(cfgHTTPLoggingMaxBody)
 	httpLoggingMaxLogSize := v.GetInt(cfgHTTPLoggingMaxLogSize)
@@ -261,7 +260,6 @@ func (s *appSettings) update(v *viper.Viper, log *zap.Logger) {
 	httpLoggingUseGzip := v.GetBool(cfgHTTPLoggingGzip)
 
 	s.mu.Lock()
-	defer s.mu.Unlock()
 
 	s.httpLogging.Enabled = httpLoggingEnabled
 	s.httpLogging.MaxBody = httpLoggingMaxBody
@@ -287,17 +285,22 @@ func (s *appSettings) update(v *viper.Viper, log *zap.Logger) {
 	s.vhsEnabled = vhsEnabled
 	s.vhsHeader = vhsHeader
 	s.servernameHeader = servernameHeader
-	s.vhsNamespacesEnabled = vhsNamespacesEnabled
+
+	s.mu.Unlock()
+
+	s.prepareVHSNamespaces(v, log)
 }
 
-func (s *appSettings) prepareVHSNamespaces(v *viper.Viper, log *zap.Logger) map[string]bool {
+func (s *appSettings) prepareVHSNamespaces(v *viper.Viper, log *zap.Logger) {
 	nsMap := fetchVHSNamespaces(v, log)
 	vhsNamespaces := make(map[string]bool, len(nsMap))
 	for ns, flag := range nsMap {
 		vhsNamespaces[s.ResolveNamespaceAlias(ns)] = flag
 	}
 
-	return vhsNamespaces
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	s.vhsNamespacesEnabled = vhsNamespaces
+	s.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
 func (s *appSettings) Domains() []string {