diff --git a/src/CHANGES b/src/CHANGES
index 907475c..b9d6c12 100644
--- a/src/CHANGES
+++ b/src/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+From: tobi
+* fix noHC detection in cfgmaker (interfaces with traffic counter = 0 could still be valid)
+
 From: fweimer-rh
 * Future C compilers are likely to reject implicit function declarations by default. This language feature was officially removed in 1999. @ffwmeier-rh
 
diff --git a/src/bin/cfgmaker b/src/bin/cfgmaker
index d87a6c4..c9c7fba 100755
--- a/src/bin/cfgmaker
+++ b/src/bin/cfgmaker
@@ -911,11 +911,11 @@ sub IsCounterBroken ($$$) {
     my $snmphost = v4onlyifnecessary($router, $ipv4only);
 
     if ($router =~ /:[\d.]*:[\d.]*:[\d.]*:[23]/) {
-        my $speed = (snmpget($snmphost, $v3opt, 'ifHighSpeed.'.$if))[0] || 'unknown';
+        my $speed = (snmpget($snmphost, $v3opt, 'ifHighSpeed.'.$if))[0] // 'unknown';
         debug('base',"snmpget $snmphost for ifHighSpeed.$if -> $speed Mb/s");
         $SNMP_Session::errmsg = undef;
 	$Net_SNMP_util::ErrorMessage = undef;
-        my $counter = (snmpget($snmphost,$v3opt, 'ifHCInOctets.'.$if))[0] || 'unknown';
+        my $counter = (snmpget($snmphost,$v3opt, 'ifHCInOctets.'.$if))[0] // 'unknown';
         debug('base',"snmpget $snmphost for ifHCInOctets.$if -> $counter");
         if( $speed eq 'unknown' or $counter !~ /^\d+$/ or $SNMP_Session::errmsg or $Net_SNMP_util::ErrorMessage){
             $SNMP_Session::errmsg = undef;