diff --git a/lib/tls/mbedtls/mbedtls-client.c b/lib/tls/mbedtls/mbedtls-client.c
index e396f17b8..6e790ca21 100644
--- a/lib/tls/mbedtls/mbedtls-client.c
+++ b/lib/tls/mbedtls/mbedtls-client.c
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ lws_tls_client_create_vhost_context(struct lws_vhost *vh,
 					)
 {
 	X509 *d2i_X509(X509 **cert, const unsigned char **buffer, long len);
-	SSL_METHOD *method = (SSL_METHOD *)TLS_client_method();
+	SSL_METHOD *method;
 	unsigned long error;
 	int n;
 
@@ -389,6 +389,16 @@ lws_tls_client_create_vhost_context(struct lws_vhost *vh,
 	lws_tls_session_cache(vh, info->tls_session_timeout);
 #endif
 
+#if defined(MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_2)
+	method = (SSL_METHOD *)TLSv1_2_client_method();
+#elif defined(MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1_1)
+	method = (SSL_METHOD *)TLSv1_1_client_method();
+#elif defined(MBEDTLS_SSL_PROTO_TLS1)
+	method = (SSL_METHOD *)TLSv1_client_method();
+#else
+	method = (SSL_METHOD *)TLS_client_method();
+#endif
+
 	if (!method) {
 		error = (unsigned long)ERR_get_error();
 		lwsl_err("problem creating ssl method %lu: %s\n",