diff --git a/certs/ocsp/include.am b/certs/ocsp/include.am
index c5d937ed3..3afd680b1 100644
--- a/certs/ocsp/include.am
+++ b/certs/ocsp/include.am
@@ -33,4 +33,5 @@ EXTRA_DIST += \
         certs/ocsp/server5-cert.pem \
         certs/ocsp/root-ca-key.pem \
         certs/ocsp/root-ca-cert.pem \
-        certs/ocsp/test-response.der
+        certs/ocsp/test-response.der \
+        certs/ocsp/test-response-nointern.der
diff --git a/certs/ocsp/renewcerts.sh b/certs/ocsp/renewcerts.sh
index 955fd73ae..556da9432 100755
--- a/certs/ocsp/renewcerts.sh
+++ b/certs/ocsp/renewcerts.sh
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ openssl ocsp -port 22221 -ndays 1000 -index index-ca-and-intermediate-cas.txt -r
 PID=$!
 
 openssl ocsp -issuer ./root-ca-cert.pem -cert ./intermediate1-ca-cert.pem -url http://localhost:22221/ -respout test-response.der
+openssl ocsp -issuer ./root-ca-cert.pem -cert ./intermediate1-ca-cert.pem -url http://localhost:22221/ -respout test-response-nointern.der -no_intern
+# can verify with the following command
+# openssl ocsp -respin test-response-nointern.der -CAfile root-ca-cert.pem -issuer intermediate1-ca-cert.pem
 
 kill $PID
 wait $PID
diff --git a/certs/ocsp/test-response-nointern.der b/certs/ocsp/test-response-nointern.der
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d4115cbe
Binary files /dev/null and b/certs/ocsp/test-response-nointern.der differ
diff --git a/src/ocsp.c b/src/ocsp.c
index e31ef23f7..d18e5739d 100644
--- a/src/ocsp.c
+++ b/src/ocsp.c
@@ -826,6 +826,7 @@ OcspResponse* wolfSSL_d2i_OCSP_RESPONSE(OcspResponse** response,
     OcspResponse *resp = NULL;
     word32 idx = 0;
     int length = 0;
+    int ret;
 
     if (data == NULL)
         return NULL;
@@ -867,7 +868,10 @@ OcspResponse* wolfSSL_d2i_OCSP_RESPONSE(OcspResponse** response,
     XMEMCPY(resp->source, *data, len);
     resp->maxIdx = len;
 
-    if (OcspResponseDecode(resp, NULL, NULL, 1) != 0) {
+    ret = OcspResponseDecode(resp, NULL, NULL, 1);
+    if (ret != 0 && ret != ASN_OCSP_CONFIRM_E) {
+        /* for just converting from a DER to an internal structure the CA may
+         * not yet be known to this function for signature verification */
         wolfSSL_OCSP_RESPONSE_free(resp);
         return NULL;
     }
diff --git a/tests/api.c b/tests/api.c
index 6c42d871a..3eeee2359 100644
--- a/tests/api.c
+++ b/tests/api.c
@@ -1407,6 +1407,7 @@ static void test_wolfSSL_CheckOCSPResponse(void)
 {
 #if defined(HAVE_OCSP) && !defined(NO_RSA) && defined(OPENSSL_ALL)
     const char* responseFile = "./certs/ocsp/test-response.der";
+    const char* responseNoInternFile = "./certs/ocsp/test-response-nointern.der";
     const char* caFile = "./certs/ocsp/root-ca-cert.pem";
     OcspResponse* res = NULL;
     byte data[4096];
@@ -1442,6 +1443,18 @@ static void test_wolfSSL_CheckOCSPResponse(void)
     wolfSSL_X509_STORE_free(st);
     wolfSSL_X509_free(issuer);
 
+    /* check loading a response with optional certs */
+    f = XFOPEN(responseNoInternFile, "rb");
+    AssertTrue(f != XBADFILE);
+    dataSz = (word32)XFREAD(data, 1, sizeof(data), f);
+    AssertIntGT(dataSz, 0);
+    XFCLOSE(f);
+
+    pt = data;
+    res = wolfSSL_d2i_OCSP_RESPONSE(NULL, &pt, dataSz);
+    AssertNotNull(res);
+    wolfSSL_OCSP_RESPONSE_free(res);
+
     printf(resultFmt, passed);
 #endif /* HAVE_OCSP */
 }
diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/asn.c b/wolfcrypt/src/asn.c
index d34bf0603..837a8354e 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/asn.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/asn.c
@@ -33441,7 +33441,9 @@ static int DecodeBasicOcspResponse(byte* source, word32* ioIndex,
 #ifndef WOLFSSL_ASN_TEMPLATE
     int    length;
     word32 idx = *ioIndex;
+    #ifndef WOLFSSL_NO_OCSP_OPTIONAL_CERTS
     word32 end_index;
+    #endif
     int    ret;
     int    sigLength;
 
@@ -33453,7 +33455,9 @@ static int DecodeBasicOcspResponse(byte* source, word32* ioIndex,
 
     if (idx + length > size)
         return ASN_INPUT_E;
+    #ifndef WOLFSSL_NO_OCSP_OPTIONAL_CERTS
     end_index = idx + length;
+    #endif
 
     if ((ret = DecodeResponseData(source, &idx, resp, size)) < 0)
         return ret; /* ASN_PARSE_E, ASN_BEFORE_DATE_E, ASN_AFTER_DATE_E */