diff --git a/src/input/plugins/CurlInputPlugin.cxx b/src/input/plugins/CurlInputPlugin.cxx
index 864ea57ff..e90ce8daf 100644
--- a/src/input/plugins/CurlInputPlugin.cxx
+++ b/src/input/plugins/CurlInputPlugin.cxx
@@ -439,8 +439,14 @@ CurlInputStream::InitEasy()
 	request->SetVerifyPeer(verify_peer);
 	request->SetVerifyHost(verify_host);
 	request->SetOption(CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, request_headers.Get());
-	request->SetProxyVerifyPeer(verify_peer);
-	request->SetProxyVerifyHost(verify_host);
+
+	try {
+		request->SetProxyVerifyPeer(verify_peer);
+		request->SetProxyVerifyHost(verify_host);
+	} catch (...) {
+		/* these methods fail if libCURL was compiled with
+		   CURL_DISABLE_PROXY; ignore silently */
+	}
 }
 
 void