diff --git a/easyrsa3/easyrsa b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
index cbf89515..41ee79d3 100755
--- a/easyrsa3/easyrsa
+++ b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
@@ -1163,11 +1163,11 @@ easyrsa_openssl() {
 		rand) die "easyrsa_openssl: Illegal SSL command: rand"
 	esac
 
-	# Use local SSL cnf
-	if [ "$EASYRSA_SSL_CONF" ]; then
+	# Use $EASYRSA_SSL_CONF or $global_safe_ssl_cnf_tmp
+	if [ -f "$EASYRSA_SSL_CONF" ]; then
 		export OPENSSL_CONF="$EASYRSA_SSL_CONF"
 	else
-		[ "$OPENSSL_CONF" ] || \
+		[ -f "$OPENSSL_CONF" ] || \
 			die "easyrsa_openssl - OPENSSL_CONF undefined"
 	fi
 	verbose "= easyrsa_openssl: OPENSSL_CONF = $OPENSSL_CONF"