diff --git a/lib/vssh/libssh2.c b/lib/vssh/libssh2.c
index ce9229f8fa..12edaf5e8b 100644
--- a/lib/vssh/libssh2.c
+++ b/lib/vssh/libssh2.c
@@ -840,6 +840,8 @@ static CURLcode ssh_force_knownhost_key_type(struct Curl_easy *data)
 #endif
   static const char * const hostkey_method_ssh_rsa
     = "ssh-rsa";
+  static const char * const hostkey_method_ssh_rsa_all
+    = "rsa-sha2-256,rsa-sha2-512,ssh-rsa";
   static const char * const hostkey_method_ssh_dss
     = "ssh-dss";
 
@@ -914,7 +916,16 @@ static CURLcode ssh_force_knownhost_key_type(struct Curl_easy *data)
         break;
 #endif
       case LIBSSH2_KNOWNHOST_KEY_SSHRSA:
-        hostkey_method = hostkey_method_ssh_rsa;
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBSSH2_VERSION
+        if(libssh2_version(0x010900))
+          /* since 1.9.0 libssh2_session_method_pref() works as expected */
+          hostkey_method = hostkey_method_ssh_rsa_all;
+        else
+#endif
+          /* old libssh2 which cannot correctly remove unsupported methods due
+           * to bug in src/kex.c or does not support the new methods anyways.
+           */
+          hostkey_method = hostkey_method_ssh_rsa;
         break;
       case LIBSSH2_KNOWNHOST_KEY_SSHDSS:
         hostkey_method = hostkey_method_ssh_dss;