diff --git a/runtime_config_linux.go b/runtime_config_linux.go
index 0482b046720..0ce0c108316 100644
--- a/runtime_config_linux.go
+++ b/runtime_config_linux.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ type WeightDevice struct {
 type ThrottleDevice struct {
 	blockIODevice
 	// Rate is the IO rate limit per cgroup per device
-	Rate uint64 `json:"rate"`
+	Rate *uint64 `json:"rate,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // BlockIO for Linux cgroup 'blkio' resource management