diff --git a/tests/data/tools/timeout.xml b/tests/data/tools/timeout.xml
index 37c669b44..04f352da6 100644
--- a/tests/data/tools/timeout.xml
+++ b/tests/data/tools/timeout.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     <description>just wastes time</description>
     <command detect_errors="exit_code"><![CDATA[
         echo "output" > '$output' &&
-        sleep 30;
+        sleep 5;
     ]]></command>
     <inputs>
     </inputs>
diff --git a/tests/test_cmd_test.py b/tests/test_cmd_test.py
index 59fcc5e09..2e96bfa10 100644
--- a/tests/test_cmd_test.py
+++ b/tests/test_cmd_test.py
@@ -121,10 +121,10 @@ def test_tool_test_timeout(self):
             with open(json_out.name) as fh:
                 tool_test_json = json.load(fh)
                 assert tool_test_json["summary"]["num_tests"] == 1
-                # check run time, for smaller 10 since the test will take a bit longer than 1s
-                # the important bit is that it's not about 30s (since the test tool calls `sleep 30`)
+                # check run time, for smaller 4 since the test will take a bit longer than 1s
+                # the important bit is that it's not about 5s (since the test tool calls `sleep 5`)
                 assert (
-                    float(tool_test_json["tests"][0]["data"]["time_seconds"]) <= 10
+                    float(tool_test_json["tests"][0]["data"]["time_seconds"]) <= 4
                 ), "Test needed more than 10 sec but should time out after 1"
                 assert (
                     "Timed out after" in tool_test_json["tests"][0]["data"]["output_problems"][0]