diff --git a/cmd/utils/flags.go b/cmd/utils/flags.go
index 72be2dbeb7..45a69d6760 100644
--- a/cmd/utils/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/utils/flags.go
@@ -697,8 +697,6 @@ func setHTTP(ctx *cli.Context, cfg *node.Config) {
 	}
 	if ctx.GlobalIsSet(RPCVirtualHostsFlag.Name) {
 		cfg.HTTPVirtualHosts = splitAndTrim(ctx.GlobalString(RPCVirtualHostsFlag.Name))
-	} else if len(cfg.HTTPVirtualHosts) == 0 {
-		cfg.HTTPVirtualHosts = splitAndTrim(ctx.GlobalString(RPCVirtualHostsFlag.Name))
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/node/defaults.go b/node/defaults.go
index d4e1486834..5674ce4878 100644
--- a/node/defaults.go
+++ b/node/defaults.go
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ var DefaultConfig = Config{
 		MaxPeers:   25,
 		NAT:        nat.Any(),
 	},
+	HTTPVirtualHosts: []string{"localhost"},
 }
 
 // DefaultDataDir is the default data directory to use for the databases and other