diff --git a/roles/system_packages/defaults/main.yml b/roles/system_packages/defaults/main.yml
index 62704067a..79c9836a4 100644
--- a/roles/system_packages/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/system_packages/defaults/main.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 ---
 # number of times package install task should be retried
 pkg_install_retries: 4
+pkg_install_timeout: "{{ 5 * 60 }}"
 yum_repo_dir: /etc/yum.repos.d
diff --git a/roles/system_packages/tasks/main.yml b/roles/system_packages/tasks/main.yml
index f0bc875df..ebb98147a 100644
--- a/roles/system_packages/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/system_packages/tasks/main.yml
@@ -63,3 +63,4 @@
     label: "{{ item.action_label }}"
   tags:
     - bootstrap_os
+  timeout: "{{ pkg_install_timeout }}"