diff --git a/roles/debian/aws_efs_client/defaults/main.yml b/roles/debian/aws_efs_client/defaults/main.yml
index 9450c4ff7..091662e43 100644
--- a/roles/debian/aws_efs_client/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/roles/debian/aws_efs_client/defaults/main.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ _mount_state: present
 aws_efs_client:
   aws_profile: example # AWS boto profile name - can be substituted for "{{ _aws_profile }}" if set
   region: eu-west-1 # AWS region name - can be substituted for "{{ _aws_region }}" if set
-  version: 2.1.0 # version of AWS EFS utils to use
+  version: "{{ '1.35.0' if ansible_distribution_major_version | int < 12 else '2.1.0' }}" # 2.1.0 requires libssl v3 which is absent on Debian < 12 by default.
   build_suffix: "-1_all" # sometimes there is a suffix appended to the package name, e.g. `amazon-efs-utils-1.35.0-1_all.deb`
   deb_url: "" # provide an alternative location for the .deb package
   # See https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/mount_module.html