diff --git a/src/internal.c b/src/internal.c
index a5485493be..7b77096e6e 100644
--- a/src/internal.c
+++ b/src/internal.c
@@ -23523,7 +23523,7 @@ static int SSL_hmac(WOLFSSL* ssl, byte* digest, const byte* in, word32 sz,
 
         wc_Md5Free(&md5);
     }
-    else {
+    else if (ssl->specs.mac_algorithm == sha_mac) {
         ret =  wc_InitSha_ex(&sha, ssl->heap, ssl->devId);
         if (ret != 0)
             return ret;
@@ -23573,6 +23573,10 @@ static int SSL_hmac(WOLFSSL* ssl, byte* digest, const byte* in, word32 sz,
 
         wc_ShaFree(&sha);
     }
+    else {
+        WOLFSSL_ERROR_VERBOSE(VERIFY_MAC_ERROR);
+        return VERIFY_MAC_ERROR;
+    }
     return 0;
 }
 #endif /* !NO_OLD_TLS && !WOLFSSL_AEAD_ONLY */
diff --git a/src/keys.c b/src/keys.c
index 714d9dd85d..fbe3251473 100644
--- a/src/keys.c
+++ b/src/keys.c
@@ -44,6 +44,20 @@ int SetCipherSpecs(WOLFSSL* ssl)
                                 ssl->options.cipherSuite, &ssl->specs,
                                 &ssl->options);
     if (ret == 0) {
+    #ifdef WOLFSSL_ALLOW_SSLV3
+         /* SSLv3 (RFC 6101) defines MAC algorithms as MD5 and SHA-1. SHA-256
+          * was introduced in TLS 1.2 (RFC 5246). SSL_hmac for old SSLv3
+          * connections can not handle newer cipher suites that use digest sizes
+          * larger than SHA-1 */
+        if (ssl->version.major == SSLv3_MAJOR &&
+                    ssl->version.minor == SSLv3_MINOR &&
+                    ssl->specs.hash_size > WC_SHA_DIGEST_SIZE) {
+                WOLFSSL_MSG("SSLv3 does not support SHA-256 or higher MAC");
+                WOLFSSL_ERROR_VERBOSE(UNSUPPORTED_SUITE);
+                return UNSUPPORTED_SUITE;
+        }
+    #endif /* WOLFSSL_ALLOW_SSLV3 */
+
         /* set TLS if it hasn't been turned off */
         if (ssl->version.major == SSLv3_MAJOR &&
                 ssl->version.minor >= TLSv1_MINOR) {