diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/matrix/synapse.nix b/nixos/modules/services/matrix/synapse.nix
index 1adc02852a4d..b13488940e81 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/matrix/synapse.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/matrix/synapse.nix
@@ -124,12 +124,13 @@ let
   genLogConfigFile =
     logName:
     format.generate "synapse-log-${logName}.yaml" (
-      cfg.log
-      // optionalAttrs (cfg.log ? handlers.journal) {
-        handlers.journal = cfg.log.handlers.journal // {
-          SYSLOG_IDENTIFIER = logName;
-        };
-      }
+      attrsets.recursiveUpdate cfg.log (
+        optionalAttrs (cfg.log ? handlers.journal) {
+          handlers.journal = cfg.log.handlers.journal // {
+            SYSLOG_IDENTIFIER = logName;
+          };
+        }
+      )
     );
 
   toIntBase8 =