diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 4b179f6fc8..052300eae3 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -408,6 +408,17 @@ static CURL *get_curl_handle(void)
 		curl_easy_setopt(result, CURLOPT_PROXY, curl_http_proxy);
 #if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x070a07
 		curl_easy_setopt(result, CURLOPT_PROXYAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY);
+#endif
+#if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x071800
+		if (starts_with(curl_http_proxy, "socks5"))
+			curl_easy_setopt(result,
+				CURLOPT_PROXYTYPE, CURLPROXY_SOCKS5);
+		else if (starts_with(curl_http_proxy, "socks4a"))
+			curl_easy_setopt(result,
+				CURLOPT_PROXYTYPE, CURLPROXY_SOCKS4A);
+		else if (starts_with(curl_http_proxy, "socks"))
+			curl_easy_setopt(result,
+				CURLOPT_PROXYTYPE, CURLPROXY_SOCKS4);
 #endif
 	}