diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/default.nix
index 6cc6848b316f..d0a7a890355a 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/default.nix
@@ -37,9 +37,7 @@ lib.makeScope pkgs.newScope (self: with self; {
 
   gnome_python_desktop = callPackage ./bindings/gnome-python-desktop { };
 
-  gnome_vfs = callPackage ./platform/gnome-vfs {
-    openssl = pkgs.openssl_1_0_2;
-  };
+  gnome_vfs = callPackage ./platform/gnome-vfs { };
 
   libgnome = callPackage ./platform/libgnome { };
 
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gnome-vfs/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gnome-vfs/default.nix
index c15f43b542aa..7196840978f4 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gnome-vfs/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-2/platform/gnome-vfs/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, libxml2, bzip2, openssl, dbus-glib
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, fetchpatch, pkgconfig, libxml2, bzip2, openssl, dbus-glib
 , glib, gamin, cdparanoia, intltool, GConf, gnome_mime_data, avahi, acl }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -20,6 +20,18 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ GConf glib ];
 
+  # struct SSL is opaque in openssl-1.1; and the SSL_free() man page
+  # says that one should not free members of it manually (in both
+  # the openssl-1.0 and openssl-1.1 man pages).
+  # https://bugs.gentoo.org/592540
+  patches = [ (fetchpatch {
+                name = "gnome-vfs-2.24.4-openssl-1.1.patch";
+                url = "https://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=535944";
+                sha256 = "1q4icapvmwmd5rjah7rr0bqazzk5cg36znmjlpra20n9y27nz040";
+                extraPrefix = "";
+              })
+            ];
+
   postPatch = "find . -name Makefile.in | xargs sed 's/-DG_DISABLE_DEPRECATED//g' -i ";
 
   doCheck = false; # needs dbus daemon