diff --git a/includes/common.inc b/includes/common.inc
index 0ebe857..917f361 100644
--- a/includes/common.inc
+++ b/includes/common.inc
@@ -764,6 +764,8 @@ function drupal_access_denied() {
  *   - timeout: A float representing the maximum number of seconds the function
  *     call may take. The default is 30 seconds. If a timeout occurs, the error
  *     code is set to the HTTP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT constant.
+ *   - ssl_version: The HTTPS certificate version used by the remote server. The
+ *     value should either be 'sslv2', 'sslv3' or 'tls'.
  *   - context: A context resource created with stream_context_create().
  *
  * @return object
@@ -871,7 +873,8 @@ function drupal_http_request($url, array $options = array()) {
     case 'https':
       // Note: Only works when PHP is compiled with OpenSSL support.
       $port = isset($uri['port']) ? $uri['port'] : 443;
-      $socket = 'ssl://' . $uri['host'] . ':' . $port;
+      $transport = isset($options['ssl_version']) ? $options['ssl_version'] . '://' : 'ssl://';
+      $socket = $transport . $uri['host'] . ':' . $port;
       $options['headers']['Host'] = $uri['host'] . ($port != 443 ? ':' . $port : '');
       break;