diff --git a/lib/libfetch/common.h b/lib/libfetch/common.h
--- a/lib/libfetch/common.h
+++ b/lib/libfetch/common.h
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@
 	SSL		*ssl;		/* SSL handle */
 	SSL_CTX		*ssl_ctx;	/* SSL context */
 	X509		*ssl_cert;	/* server certificate */
-	const SSL_METHOD *ssl_meth;	/* SSL method */
 #endif
 	int		 ref;		/* reference count */
 };
diff --git a/lib/libfetch/common.c b/lib/libfetch/common.c
--- a/lib/libfetch/common.c
+++ b/lib/libfetch/common.c
@@ -1182,8 +1182,11 @@
 	X509_NAME *name;
 	char *str;
 
-	conn->ssl_meth = SSLv23_client_method();
-	conn->ssl_ctx = SSL_CTX_new(conn->ssl_meth);
+	if ((conn->ssl_ctx = SSL_CTX_new(TLS_client_method())) == NULL) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "SSL context creation failed\n");
+		ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
+		return (-1);
+	}
 	SSL_CTX_set_mode(conn->ssl_ctx, SSL_MODE_AUTO_RETRY);
 
 	fetch_ssl_setup_transport_layer(conn->ssl_ctx, verbose);
@@ -1194,7 +1197,8 @@
 
 	conn->ssl = SSL_new(conn->ssl_ctx);
 	if (conn->ssl == NULL) {
-		fprintf(stderr, "SSL context creation failed\n");
+		fprintf(stderr, "SSL connection creation failed\n");
+		ERR_print_errors_fp(stderr);
 		return (-1);
 	}
 	SSL_set_fd(conn->ssl, conn->sd);