diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index ba70d1ff50..05d72739ea 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -698,8 +698,8 @@ dependencies {
 
     // Only osx-x86_64, osx-aarch_64, linux-x86_64, linux-aarch_64, windows-x86_64 are available
     if (osdetector.classifier in ["osx-x86_64", "osx-aarch_64", "linux-x86_64", "linux-aarch_64", "windows-x86_64"]) {
-        testImplementation "io.netty:netty-tcnative-classes:2.0.61.Final"
-        testImplementation "io.netty:netty-tcnative-boringssl-static:2.0.61.Final:${osdetector.classifier}"
+        testImplementation "io.netty:netty-tcnative-classes:2.0.66.Final"
+        testImplementation "io.netty:netty-tcnative-boringssl-static:2.0.66.Final:${osdetector.classifier}"
     }
     // JUnit build requirement
     testCompileOnly 'org.apiguardian:apiguardian-api:1.1.2'
@@ -710,7 +710,7 @@ dependencies {
     }
     testRuntimeOnly 'org.scala-lang:scala-library:2.13.15'
     testRuntimeOnly 'com.typesafe.scala-logging:scala-logging_3:3.9.5'
-    testRuntimeOnly('org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper:3.9.2') {
+    testRuntimeOnly('org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper:3.9.3') {
         exclude(group:'ch.qos.logback', module: 'logback-classic' )
         exclude(group:'ch.qos.logback', module: 'logback-core' )
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/ssl/SslSettingsManager.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/ssl/SslSettingsManager.java
index 381c510894..16a05b2f55 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/ssl/SslSettingsManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/ssl/SslSettingsManager.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
 import org.opensearch.OpenSearchException;
+import org.opensearch.common.Booleans;
 import org.opensearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.opensearch.env.Environment;
 import org.opensearch.security.ssl.config.CertType;
@@ -374,10 +375,23 @@ void openSslWarnings(final Settings settings) {
 
             LOGGER.debug("OpenSSL available ciphers {}", OpenSsl.availableOpenSslCipherSuites());
         } else {
-            LOGGER.warn(
-                "OpenSSL not available (this is not an error, we simply fallback to built-in JDK SSL) because of {}",
-                OpenSsl.unavailabilityCause()
-            );
+            boolean openSslIsEnabled = false;
+
+            if (settings.hasValue(SECURITY_SSL_HTTP_ENABLE_OPENSSL_IF_AVAILABLE) == true) {
+                openSslIsEnabled |= Booleans.parseBoolean(settings.get(SECURITY_SSL_HTTP_ENABLE_OPENSSL_IF_AVAILABLE));
+            }
+
+            if (settings.hasValue(SECURITY_SSL_TRANSPORT_ENABLE_OPENSSL_IF_AVAILABLE) == true) {
+                openSslIsEnabled |= Booleans.parseBoolean(settings.get(SECURITY_SSL_TRANSPORT_ENABLE_OPENSSL_IF_AVAILABLE));
+            }
+
+            if (openSslIsEnabled == true) {
+                /* only print warning if OpenSsl is enabled explicitly but not available */
+                LOGGER.warn(
+                    "OpenSSL not available (this is not an error, we simply fallback to built-in JDK SSL) because of ",
+                    OpenSsl.unavailabilityCause()
+                );
+            }
         }
     }