diff --git a/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb b/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
index 7f932ee1f2..de4aa4647c 100644
--- a/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
+++ b/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ class ExecInput < Fluent::Plugin::Input
     config_param :tag, :string, default: nil
     desc 'The interval time between periodic program runs.'
     config_param :run_interval, :time, default: nil
+    desc 'Command (program) execution timeout.'
+    config_param :command_timeout, :time, default: nil
     desc 'The default block size to read if parser requires partial read.'
     config_param :read_block_size, :size, default: 10240 # 10k
     desc 'The encoding to receive the result of the command, especially for non-ascii characters.'
@@ -86,9 +88,9 @@ def start
       options[:external_encoding] = @encoding if @encoding
 
       if @run_interval
-        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, interval: @run_interval, **options, &method(:run))
+        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, interval: @run_interval, wait_timeout: @command_timeout, **options, &method(:run))
       else
-        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, immediate: true, **options, &method(:run))
+        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, immediate: true, wait_timeout: @command_timeout, **options, &method(:run))
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb b/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
index f7c9f6d705..59b5461741 100644
--- a/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
+++ b/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
@@ -295,4 +295,48 @@ def create_driver(conf)
       assert_match(/LoadError/, event[2]['message'])
     end
   end
+  sub_test_case 'command_timeout' do
+    test 'configure command_timeout' do
+      d = create_driver %[
+        command ruby -e "sleep 10"
+        tag test
+        run_interval 1s
+        command_timeout 1s
+        <parse>
+          @type none
+        </parse>
+      ]
+      assert_equal 1.0, d.instance.command_timeout
+    end
+
+    test 'command_timeout kills long-running child process' do
+      d = create_driver %[
+        command ruby -e "sleep 10"
+        tag test
+        run_interval 5s
+        command_timeout 1s
+        <parse>
+          @type none
+        </parse>
+      ]
+      start_time = Time.now
+      d.run(timeout: 5) do
+        sleep 1 # avoid to return test immediately
+      end
+      elapsed = Time.now - start_time
+      assert (elapsed >= 1.0 and elapsed < 5), "command should have been killed by command_timeout"
+    end
+
+    test 'command_timeout defaults to nil' do
+      d = create_driver %[
+        command ruby -e "puts 'hello'"
+        tag test
+        run_interval 1s
+        <parse>
+          @type none
+        </parse>
+      ]
+      assert_nil d.instance.command_timeout
+    end
+  end
 end