diff --git a/pgxn/neon/walproposer.c b/pgxn/neon/walproposer.c
index f42103c7cd..c63edb1398 100644
--- a/pgxn/neon/walproposer.c
+++ b/pgxn/neon/walproposer.c
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ WalProposerCreate(WalProposerConfig *config, walproposer_api api)
 		{
 			wp_log(FATAL, "failed to parse neon.safekeepers generation number: %m");
 		}
+		if (*endptr != ':')
+		{
+			wp_log(FATAL, "failed to parse neon.safekeepers: no colon after generation");
+		}
 		/* Skip past : to the first hostname. */
 		host = endptr + 1;
 	}
diff --git a/pgxn/neon/walproposer_pg.c b/pgxn/neon/walproposer_pg.c
index d15bf91d24..c90702a282 100644
--- a/pgxn/neon/walproposer_pg.c
+++ b/pgxn/neon/walproposer_pg.c
@@ -272,6 +272,30 @@ split_safekeepers_list(char *safekeepers_list, char *safekeepers[])
 	return n_safekeepers;
 }
 
+static char *split_off_safekeepers_generation(char *safekeepers_list, uint32 *generation)
+{
+	char	   *endptr;
+
+	if (strncmp(safekeepers_list, "g#", 2) != 0)
+	{
+		return safekeepers_list;
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		errno = 0;
+		*generation = strtoul(safekeepers_list + 2, &endptr, 10);
+		if (errno != 0)
+		{
+			wp_log(FATAL, "failed to parse neon.safekeepers generation number: %m");
+		}
+		if (*endptr != ':')
+		{
+			wp_log(FATAL, "failed to parse neon.safekeepers: no colon after generation");
+		}
+		return endptr + 1;
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Accept two coma-separated strings with list of safekeeper host:port addresses.
  * Split them into arrays and return false if two sets do not match, ignoring the order.
@@ -283,6 +307,16 @@ safekeepers_cmp(char *old, char *new)
 	char	   *safekeepers_new[MAX_SAFEKEEPERS];
 	int			len_old = 0;
 	int			len_new = 0;
+	uint32		gen_old = INVALID_GENERATION;
+	uint32		gen_new = INVALID_GENERATION;
+
+	old = split_off_safekeepers_generation(old, &gen_old);
+	new = split_off_safekeepers_generation(new, &gen_new);
+
+	if (gen_old != gen_new)
+	{
+		return false;
+	}
 
 	len_old = split_safekeepers_list(old, safekeepers_old);
 	len_new = split_safekeepers_list(new, safekeepers_new);