diff --git a/lib/core-net/vhost.c b/lib/core-net/vhost.c
index f788f1210..069252325 100644
--- a/lib/core-net/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/core-net/vhost.c
@@ -694,7 +694,7 @@ lws_create_vhost(struct lws_context *context,
 	{
 #ifdef LWS_HAVE_GETENV
 		p = getenv("http_proxy");
-		if (p)
+		if (p && strlen(p) > 0 && strlen(p) < 95)
 			lws_set_proxy(vh, p);
 #endif
 	}
@@ -709,7 +709,7 @@ lws_create_vhost(struct lws_context *context,
 	} else {
 #ifdef LWS_HAVE_GETENV
 		p = getenv("socks_proxy");
-		if (p)
+		if (p && strlen(p) > 0 && strlen(p) < 95)
 			lws_set_socks(vh, p);
 #endif
 	}
diff --git a/lib/roles/http/client/client.c b/lib/roles/http/client/client.c
index 980f6a0c6..f4a4d5bdc 100644
--- a/lib/roles/http/client/client.c
+++ b/lib/roles/http/client/client.c
@@ -280,9 +280,10 @@ socks_reply_fail:
 		}
 
 		pt->serv_buf[13] = '\0';
-		if (strcmp(sb, "HTTP/1.0 200 ") &&
-		    strcmp(sb, "HTTP/1.1 200 ")) {
-			lwsl_err("ERROR proxy: %s\n", sb);
+		if (strncmp(sb, "HTTP/1.0 200 ", 13) &&
+		    strncmp(sb, "HTTP/1.1 200 ", 13)) {
+			lwsl_err("%s: ERROR proxy did not reply with h1\n",
+					__func__);
 			goto bail3;
 		}