diff --git a/package/netsnmp/netsnmp.mk b/package/netsnmp/netsnmp.mk
index 4bd65ef17a..ed573c51e3 100644
--- a/package/netsnmp/netsnmp.mk
+++ b/package/netsnmp/netsnmp.mk
@@ -53,15 +53,12 @@ endif
 
 # OpenSSL
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),y)
-NETSNMP_DEPENDENCIES += openssl
+NETSNMP_DEPENDENCIES += host-pkgconf openssl
 NETSNMP_CONF_OPTS += \
 	--with-openssl=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include/openssl \
 	--with-security-modules="tsm,usm" \
 	--with-transports="DTLSUDP,TLSTCP"
-ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS),y)
-# openssl uses zlib, so we need to explicitly link with it when static
-NETSNMP_CONF_ENV += LIBS=-lz
-endif
+NETSNMP_CONF_ENV += LIBS=`$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs openssl`
 else ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NETSNMP_OPENSSL_INTERNAL),y)
 NETSNMP_CONF_OPTS += --with-openssl=internal
 else