diff --git a/.codeql-prebuild-cpp-Windows.sh b/.codeql-prebuild-cpp-Windows.sh
index 31ee6cd94d3..04986c85973 100644
--- a/.codeql-prebuild-cpp-Windows.sh
+++ b/.codeql-prebuild-cpp-Windows.sh
@@ -2,18 +2,10 @@
 set -e
 
 # update pacman
-pacman --noconfirm -Suy
-
-# install wget
-pacman --noconfirm -S \
-  wget
-
-# download working curl
-wget https://repo.msys2.org/mingw/ucrt64/mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-8.8.0-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
+pacman --noconfirm -Syu
 
 # install dependencies
-pacman -U --noconfirm mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-8.8.0-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
-pacman -Syu --noconfirm --ignore=mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl \
+pacman -S --noconfirm \
   base-devel \
   diffutils \
   gcc \
@@ -21,6 +13,7 @@ pacman -Syu --noconfirm --ignore=mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl \
   make \
   mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake \
   mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cppwinrt \
+  mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-winssl \
   mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-graphviz \
   mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-miniupnpc \
   mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nlohmann-json \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/CI.yml b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
index c1b6620b16d..5bdc25d4ba5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/CI.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/CI.yml
@@ -1019,30 +1019,20 @@ jobs:
           msystem: ucrt64
           update: true
           install: >-
-            wget
-
-      - name: Update Windows dependencies
-        shell: msys2 {0}
-        run: |
-          # download working curl
-          wget https://repo.msys2.org/mingw/ucrt64/mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-8.8.0-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
-
-          # install dependencies
-          pacman -U --noconfirm mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-8.8.0-1-any.pkg.tar.zst
-          pacman -Syu --noconfirm \
-            --ignore=mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl \
-            git \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cppwinrt \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-graphviz \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-miniupnpc \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nlohmann-json \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nodejs \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nsis \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-onevpl \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl \
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-opus \
+            git
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cppwinrt
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-winssl
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-graphviz
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-miniupnpc
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nlohmann-json
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nodejs
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nsis
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-onevpl
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-opus
             mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain
+            wget
 
       - name: Install Doxygen
         # GCC compiled doxygen has issues when running graphviz
diff --git a/docs/building.md b/docs/building.md
index 6d0e7c4751e..8386194302b 100644
--- a/docs/building.md
+++ b/docs/building.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ dependencies=(
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-boost"  # Optional
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake"
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cppwinrt"
-  "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl"
+  "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-curl-winssl"
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-graphviz"  # Optional, for docs
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-miniupnpc"
   "mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-nlohmann-json"
diff --git a/src/httpcommon.cpp b/src/httpcommon.cpp
index 5be5d9ba97f..419ca6dd142 100644
--- a/src/httpcommon.cpp
+++ b/src/httpcommon.cpp
@@ -196,7 +196,12 @@ namespace http {
   bool
   download_file(const std::string &url, const std::string &file) {
     CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
-    if (!curl) {
+    if (curl) {
+      // sonar complains about weak ssl and tls versions
+      // ideally, the setopts should go after the early returns; however sonar cannot detect the fix
+      curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, CURL_SSLVERSION_TLSv1_2);
+    }
+    else {
       BOOST_LOG(error) << "Couldn't create CURL instance";
       return false;
     }
@@ -214,17 +219,16 @@ namespace http {
       curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
       return false;
     }
+
     curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, url.c_str());
     curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, fwrite);
     curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, fp);
-    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, CURL_SSLVERSION_TLSv1_2);
-#ifdef _WIN32
-    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_OPTIONS, CURLSSLOPT_NATIVE_CA);
-#endif
+
     CURLcode result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
     if (result != CURLE_OK) {
       BOOST_LOG(error) << "Couldn't download ["sv << url << ", code:" << result << ']';
     }
+
     curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
     fclose(fp);
     return result == CURLE_OK;