diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..332ca2bd52e97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+issues:
+  exclude-rules:
+    - linters: gosimple
+      text: "S1002: should omit comparison to bool constant"
+  exclude-use-default: true
+  max-same-issues: 0
+  max-issues-per-linter: 0
+
+linters:
+  disable-all: true
+  enable:
+    - bodyclose
+    - deadcode
+    - goimports
+    - golint
+    - gosimple
+    - govet
+    - ineffassign
+    - misspell
+    - staticcheck
+    - structcheck
+    - typecheck
+    - unused
+    - unconvert
+    - varcheck
+
+output:
+  uniq-by-line: false
+
+run:
+  skip-dirs:
+    - vendor
+  skip-dirs-use-default: false
+  timeout: 5m
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a3562de0e9b99..f00229ae7add4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ CGOFLAG = CGO_ENABLED=1 CC=aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc
 endif
 endif
 
-GO_LINTERS ?= "unused,govet,typecheck,deadcode,goimports,varcheck,structcheck,bodyclose,staticcheck,ineffassign,unconvert,misspell,gosimple,golint"
-
 OS ?= $(shell go env GOOS)
 ARCH ?= $(shell go env GOARCH)
 FIPS ?=
@@ -293,7 +291,7 @@ integration-root:
 
 #
 # Lint the Go code.
-# By default lint scans the entire repo. Pass FLAGS='--new' to only scan local
+# By default lint scans the entire repo. Pass GO_LINT_FLAGS='--new' to only scan local
 # changes (or last commit).
 #
 .PHONY: lint
@@ -302,17 +300,7 @@ lint: lint-sh lint-helm lint-go
 .PHONY: lint-go
 lint-go: GO_LINT_FLAGS ?=
 lint-go:
-	golangci-lint run \
-		--disable-all \
-		--exclude-use-default \
-		--exclude='S1002: should omit comparison to bool constant' \
-		--skip-dirs vendor \
-		--uniq-by-line=false \
-		--max-same-issues=0 \
-		--max-issues-per-linter 0 \
-		--timeout=5m \
-		--enable $(GO_LINTERS) \
-		$(GO_LINT_FLAGS)
+	golangci-lint run -c .golangci.yml $(GO_LINT_FLAGS)
 
 # TODO(awly): remove the `--exclude` flag after cleaning up existing scripts
 .PHONY: lint-sh
diff --git a/build.assets/Dockerfile b/build.assets/Dockerfile
index 6165c59030027..6f3e6d8d1214a 100644
--- a/build.assets/Dockerfile
+++ b/build.assets/Dockerfile
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ ENV GOPATH="/go" \
     PATH="$PATH:/opt/go/bin:/go/bin:/go/src/github.com/gravitational/teleport/build"
 
 # Install meta-linter.
-RUN (curl -L https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases/download/v1.24.0/golangci-lint-1.24.0-$(go env GOOS)-$(go env GOARCH).tar.gz | tar -xz && \
-     cp golangci-lint-1.24.0-$(go env GOOS)-$(go env GOARCH)/golangci-lint /bin/ && \
+RUN (curl -L https://github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/releases/download/v1.38.0/golangci-lint-1.38.0-$(go env GOOS)-$(go env GOARCH).tar.gz | tar -xz && \
+     cp golangci-lint-1.38.0-$(go env GOOS)-$(go env GOARCH)/golangci-lint /bin/ && \
      rm -r golangci-lint*)
 
 # Install helm.
diff --git a/lib/auth/middleware.go b/lib/auth/middleware.go
index 511909f3b732c..ed9aa6dfb0732 100644
--- a/lib/auth/middleware.go
+++ b/lib/auth/middleware.go
@@ -216,9 +216,8 @@ func (t *TLSServer) Shutdown(ctx context.Context) error {
 func (t *TLSServer) Serve() error {
 	errC := make(chan error, 2)
 	go func() {
-		if err := t.mux.Serve(); err != nil {
-			t.log.WithError(err).Warningf("Mux serve failed.")
-		}
+		err := t.mux.Serve()
+		t.log.WithError(err).Warningf("Mux serve failed.")
 	}()
 	go func() {
 		errC <- t.httpServer.Serve(t.mux.HTTP())