diff --git a/iocore/net/SSLUtils.cc b/iocore/net/SSLUtils.cc
index 47718a28c33..cfcbd119c71 100644
--- a/iocore/net/SSLUtils.cc
+++ b/iocore/net/SSLUtils.cc
@@ -1404,7 +1404,9 @@ SSLMultiCertConfigLoader::_store_ssl_ctx(SSLCertLookup *lookup, const shared_SSL
   std::set<std::string> common_names;
   std::unordered_map<int, std::set<std::string>> unique_names;
   SSLMultiCertConfigLoader::CertLoadData data;
+
   const SSLConfigParams *params = this->_params;
+
   this->load_certs_and_cross_reference_names(cert_list, data, params, sslMultCertSettings.get(), common_names, unique_names);
 
   int i = 0;
@@ -1919,8 +1921,15 @@ SSLMultiCertConfigLoader::load_certs_and_cross_reference_names(std::vector<X509
 {
   SimpleTokenizer cert_tok(sslMultCertSettings && sslMultCertSettings->cert ? (const char *)sslMultCertSettings->cert : "",
                            SSL_CERT_SEPARATE_DELIM);
-  SimpleTokenizer key_tok((sslMultCertSettings && sslMultCertSettings->key ? (const char *)sslMultCertSettings->key : ""),
-                          SSL_CERT_SEPARATE_DELIM);
+
+  SimpleTokenizer key_tok(SSL_CERT_SEPARATE_DELIM);
+  if (sslMultCertSettings && sslMultCertSettings->key) {
+    key_tok.setString((const char *)sslMultCertSettings->key);
+  } else if (sslMultCertSettings && sslMultCertSettings->cert) {
+    key_tok.setString((const char *)sslMultCertSettings->cert);
+  } else {
+    key_tok.setString("");
+  }
 
   if (sslMultCertSettings && sslMultCertSettings->key && cert_tok.getNumTokensRemaining() != key_tok.getNumTokensRemaining()) {
     Error("the number of certificates in ssl_cert_name and ssl_key_name doesn't match");