diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 479dd5f8672..f6ce584b6e7 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   . Fixed bug GH-20732 (Phar::LoadPhar undefined behavior when reading fails).
     (ndossche)
   . Fix SplFileInfo::openFile() in write mode. (ndossche)
+  . Fix build on legacy OpenSSL 1.1.0 systems. (Giovanni Giacobbi)
 
 - Sqlite3:
   . Fixed bug GH-20699 (SQLite3Result fetchArray return array|false,
diff --git a/ext/phar/util.c b/ext/phar/util.c
index 7daeb450c3d..cb7370658b8 100644
--- a/ext/phar/util.c
+++ b/ext/phar/util.c
@@ -1923,7 +1923,7 @@ zend_result phar_create_signature(phar_archive_data *phar, php_stream *fp, char
 
 			if (!EVP_SignInit(md_ctx, mdtype)) {
 				EVP_PKEY_free(key);
-				EVP_MD_CTX_free(md_ctx);
+				EVP_MD_CTX_destroy(md_ctx);
 				efree(sigbuf);
 				if (error) {
 					spprintf(error, 0, "unable to initialize openssl signature for phar \"%s\"", phar->fname);
@@ -1934,7 +1934,7 @@ zend_result phar_create_signature(phar_archive_data *phar, php_stream *fp, char
 			while ((sig_len = php_stream_read(fp, (char*)buf, sizeof(buf))) > 0) {
 				if (!EVP_SignUpdate(md_ctx, buf, sig_len)) {
 					EVP_PKEY_free(key);
-					EVP_MD_CTX_free(md_ctx);
+					EVP_MD_CTX_destroy(md_ctx);
 					efree(sigbuf);
 					if (error) {
 						spprintf(error, 0, "unable to update the openssl signature for phar \"%s\"", phar->fname);
@@ -1945,7 +1945,7 @@ zend_result phar_create_signature(phar_archive_data *phar, php_stream *fp, char
 
 			if (!EVP_SignFinal (md_ctx, sigbuf, &siglen, key)) {
 				EVP_PKEY_free(key);
-				EVP_MD_CTX_free(md_ctx);
+				EVP_MD_CTX_destroy(md_ctx);
 				efree(sigbuf);
 				if (error) {
 					spprintf(error, 0, "unable to write phar \"%s\" with requested openssl signature", phar->fname);
@@ -1955,7 +1955,7 @@ zend_result phar_create_signature(phar_archive_data *phar, php_stream *fp, char
 
 			sigbuf[siglen] = '\0';
 			EVP_PKEY_free(key);
-			EVP_MD_CTX_free(md_ctx);
+			EVP_MD_CTX_destroy(md_ctx);
 #else
 			size_t siglen;
 			sigbuf = NULL;