diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fefa2f65f..3ddb1749a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ Please refer to the [NEWS](NEWS.md) for a list of changes which have an affect o
 ### Tests
 
 ### Tools
+- `intelmq.bin.intelmqctl`: Fix bot log level filtering (PR#2607 by Sebastian Wagner, fixes #2596).
 
 ### Contrib
 
diff --git a/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py b/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
index 49f002e37..871ee3da3 100644
--- a/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
+++ b/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
@@ -794,6 +794,7 @@ def read_bot_log(self, bot_id, log_level, number_of_lines):
         message_count = 0
 
         for line in utils.reverse_readline(bot_log_path):
+            print(line)
             if self._parameters.logging_handler == 'file':
                 log_message = utils.parse_logline(line)
             if self._parameters.logging_handler == 'syslog':
@@ -805,7 +806,8 @@ def read_bot_log(self, bot_id, log_level, number_of_lines):
                 continue
             if log_message['bot_id'] != bot_id:
                 continue
-            if LogLevel[log_message['log_level']].value > LogLevel[log_level].value:
+            print(log_message['log_level'], LogLevel[log_level])
+            if LogLevel[log_message['log_level']].value < LogLevel[log_level].value:
                 continue
 
             if message_overflow:
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/assets/test-bot.log b/intelmq/tests/assets/test-bot.log
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f5964cc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/intelmq/tests/assets/test-bot.log
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - INFO - ASNLookupExpertBot initialized with id asn-expert and intelmq 3.4.1.alpha1 and python 3.13.2 (main, Feb 05 2025, 09:57:44) [GCC] as process 257689. Standalone mode: True.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Library path: '/home/sebastianw/dev/intelmq/intelmq/lib/bot.py'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Loading runtime configuration from '/etc/intelmq/runtime.yaml'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'autoupdate_cached_database' loaded with value False.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'destination_pipeline_broker' loaded with value 'redis'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'process_manager' loaded with value 'intelmq'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'source_pipeline_broker' loaded with value 'redis'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'ssl_ca_certificate' loaded with value None.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'statistics_database' loaded with value 3.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'statistics_host' loaded with value '127.0.0.1'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'statistics_password' loaded with value 'HIDDEN'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Defaults configuration: parameter 'statistics_port' loaded with value 6379.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - System configuration: parameter 'module' loaded with value 'intelmq.bots.experts.asn_lookup.expert'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Runtime configuration: parameter 'database' loaded with value '/etc/resolv.conf'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Runtime configuration: parameter 'autoupdate_cached_database' loaded with value True.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Environment configuration: parameter 'paths_no_opt' loaded with value 1.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - INFO - Bot is starting.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,212 - test-bot - DEBUG - Loading Harmonization configuration from '/etc/intelmq/harmonization.conf'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,239 - test-bot - INFO - Loading source pipeline and queue 'asn-expert-queue'.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,240 - test-bot - INFO - Connected to source queue.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,240 - test-bot - INFO - No destination queues to load.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,240 - test-bot - ERROR - Bot initialization failed.
+Traceback (most recent call last):
+  File "/home/sebastianw/dev/intelmq/intelmq/lib/bot.py", line 241, in __init__
+    self.init()
+    ~~~~~~~~~^^
+  File "/home/sebastianw/dev/intelmq/intelmq/bots/experts/asn_lookup/expert.py", line 37, in init
+    self._database = pyasn.pyasn(self.database)
+                     ~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/site-packages/pyasn/__init__.py", line 71, in __init__
+    self._records = self.radix.load_ipasndb(ipasn_file, "")
+                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+RuntimeError: Error while parsing/adding IPASN database (record: 1)!
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,241 - test-bot - DEBUG - Disconnected from source pipeline.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,241 - test-bot - INFO - Bot stopped.
+2025-04-23 23:17:52,241 - test-bot - INFO - Bot stopped.
diff --git a/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqctl.py b/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqctl.py
index 88ef46a71..908b823f4 100644
--- a/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqctl.py
+++ b/intelmq/tests/bin/test_intelmqctl.py
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ def test_check_imports_real_bot_module(self):
 
         import_mock.assert_called_once_with("mocked-module")
 
+    def test_intelmqctl_log(self):
+        path = '../' * (self.intelmqctl._parameters.logging_path.count('/')-1) + os.path.dirname(__file__) + '/../assets/test-bot'
+        assert self.intelmqctl.read_bot_log(path, 'ERROR', 10) == (0, [['ERROR', 'Bot initialization failed.']])
+        assert self.intelmqctl.read_bot_log(path, 'INFO', 10) == (0, [])
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':  # pragma: nocover
     unittest.main()