diff --git a/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware.go b/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware.go
index c54246659..a754e77ce 100644
--- a/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware.go
+++ b/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func SetLastModifiedHeader(w http.ResponseWriter, modTime time.Time) {
 
 // CaseSensitivePath determines if paths should be case sensitive.
 // This is configurable via CASE_SENSITIVE_PATH environment variable.
-var CaseSensitivePath = true
+var CaseSensitivePath = false
 
 const caseSensitivePathEnv = "CASE_SENSITIVE_PATH"
 
@@ -167,10 +167,10 @@ const caseSensitivePathEnv = "CASE_SENSITIVE_PATH"
 // This could have been in init, but init cannot be called from tests.
 func initCaseSettings() {
 	switch os.Getenv(caseSensitivePathEnv) {
-	case "0", "false":
-		CaseSensitivePath = false
-	default:
+	case "1", "true":
 		CaseSensitivePath = true
+	default:
+		CaseSensitivePath = false
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware_test.go b/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware_test.go
index b8b73e144..19638ca48 100644
--- a/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware_test.go
+++ b/caddyhttp/httpserver/middleware_test.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func TestPathCaseSensitiveEnv(t *testing.T) {
 		{"0", false},
 		{"false", false},
 		{"true", true},
-		{"", true},
+		{"", false},
 	}
 
 	for i, test := range tests {