diff --git a/src/http_client.c b/src/http_client.c
index 92a4ed6dd..88375e954 100644
--- a/src/http_client.c
+++ b/src/http_client.c
@@ -1274,10 +1274,7 @@ struct proxy *httpclient_create_proxy(const char *id)
 	/* if the verify is required, try to load the system CA */
 	if (httpclient_ssl_verify == SSL_SOCK_VERIFY_REQUIRED) {
 
-		if (!httpclient_ssl_ca_file)
-			httpclient_ssl_ca_file = strdup("@system-ca");
-
-		srv_ssl->ssl_ctx.ca_file = httpclient_ssl_ca_file;
+		srv_ssl->ssl_ctx.ca_file = strdup(httpclient_ssl_ca_file ? httpclient_ssl_ca_file : "@system-ca");
 		if (!ssl_store_load_locations_file(srv_ssl->ssl_ctx.ca_file, 1, CAFILE_CERT)) {
 			/* if we failed to load the ca-file, only quits in
 			 * error with hard_error, otherwise just disable the