diff --git a/lib/event/rpc/app_rpc.c b/lib/event/rpc/app_rpc.c
index 95cb0d2a31..9cf1921196 100644
--- a/lib/event/rpc/app_rpc.c
+++ b/lib/event/rpc/app_rpc.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 
 #include "spdk/event.h"
 #include "spdk/rpc.h"
+#include "spdk/string.h"
 #include "spdk/util.h"
 
 #include "spdk_internal/log.h"
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ spdk_rpc_kill_instance(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request,
 	}
 
 	sig_count = SPDK_COUNTOF(signals);
-	signal = atoi(req.sig_name);
+	signal = spdk_strtol(req.sig_name, 10);
 	for (i = 0 ; i < sig_count; i++) {
 		if (strcmp(req.sig_name, signals[i].signal_string) == 0 ||
 		    signal == signals[i].signal) {