Index: src/mosquitto.c
--- src/mosquitto.c.orig
+++ src/mosquitto.c
@@ -103,10 +103,10 @@ int drop_privileges(struct mosquitto__config *config)
 					log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_ERR, "Error: Unable to drop privileges to '%s' because this user does not exist.", config->user);
 					return 1;
 				}else{
-					log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_ERR, "Warning: Unable to drop privileges to '%s' because this user does not exist. Trying 'nobody' instead.", config->user);
-					pwd = getpwnam("nobody");
+					log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_ERR, "Warning: Unable to drop privileges to '%s' because this user does not exist. Trying '_mosquitto' instead.", config->user);
+					pwd = getpwnam("_mosquitto");
 					if(!pwd){
-						log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_ERR, "Error: Unable to drop privileges to 'nobody'.");
+						log__printf(NULL, MOSQ_LOG_ERR, "Error: Unable to drop privileges to '_mosquitto'.");
 						return 1;
 					}
 				}