diff --git a/easyrsa3/easyrsa b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
index fd3887776..9da5499bd 100755
--- a/easyrsa3/easyrsa
+++ b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
@@ -1214,9 +1214,10 @@ easyrsa_openssl() {
 	# Use $EASYRSA_SSL_CONF (local) or $OPENSSL_CONF (global)
 	if [ -f "$EASYRSA_SSL_CONF" ]; then
 		export OPENSSL_CONF="$EASYRSA_SSL_CONF"
+	elif [ -f "$OPENSSL_CONF" ]; then
+		export OPENSSL_CONF
 	else
-		[ -f "$OPENSSL_CONF" ] || \
-			die "easyrsa_openssl - OPENSSL_CONF undefined"
+		die "easyrsa_openssl - OPENSSL_CONF undefined"
 	fi
 	verbose "= easyrsa_openssl: OPENSSL_CONF = $OPENSSL_CONF"