diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -483,6 +483,10 @@ coreconfigitem('hostsecurity', '.*:ciphe
     default=dynamicdefault,
     generic=True,
 )
+coreconfigitem('hostsecurity', '.*:fingerprints$',
+    default=list,
+    generic=True,
+)
 coreconfigitem('http_proxy', 'always',
     default=False,
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/sslutil.py b/mercurial/sslutil.py
--- a/mercurial/sslutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/sslutil.py
@@ -186,8 +186,7 @@ def _hostsettings(ui, hostname):
 
     # Look for fingerprints in [hostsecurity] section. Value is a list
     # of <alg>:<fingerprint> strings.
-    fingerprints = ui.configlist('hostsecurity', '%s:fingerprints' % hostname,
-                                 [])
+    fingerprints = ui.configlist('hostsecurity', '%s:fingerprints' % hostname)
     for fingerprint in fingerprints:
         if not (fingerprint.startswith(('sha1:', 'sha256:', 'sha512:'))):
             raise error.Abort(_('invalid fingerprint for %s: %s') % (