diff --git a/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h b/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
index f5d9532a0..cb55ba00a 100644
--- a/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
+++ b/doc/dox_comments/header_files/ssl.h
@@ -1231,6 +1231,69 @@ int wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file,
 int wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations_ex(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file,
                                          const char* path, unsigned int flags);
 
+/*!
+    \ingroup CertsKeys
+
+    \brief This function returns a pointer to an array of strings representing
+    directories wolfSSL will search for system CA certs when
+    wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs is called.
+
+    \return Valid pointer on success.
+    \return NULL pointer on failure.
+
+    \param num pointer to a word32 that will be populated with the length of the
+    array of strings.
+
+    _Example_
+    \code
+    WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx;
+    const char** dirs;
+    word32 numDirs;
+
+    dirs = wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs(&numDirs);
+    for (int i = 0; i < numDirs; ++i) {
+        printf("Potential system CA dir: %s\n", dirs[i]);
+    }
+    ...
+    \endcode
+
+    \sa wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs
+    \sa wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations
+    \sa wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations_ex
+*/
+const char** wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs(word32* num);
+
+/*!
+    \ingroup CertsKeys
+
+    \brief This function attempts to load CA certificates into a WOLFSSL_CTX
+    from conventional CA cert directories, which is OS-dependent.
+
+    \return WOLFSSL_SUCCESS on success.
+    \return WOLFSSL_BAD_PATH if no system CA certs were loaded.
+    \return WOLFSSL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED if the function isn't supported for the
+    target OS.
+
+    \param ctx pointer to the SSL context, created with wolfSSL_CTX_new().
+
+    _Example_
+    \code
+    int ret = 0;
+    WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx;
+    ...
+    ret = wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(ctx,);
+    if (ret != WOLFSSL_SUCCESS) {
+        // error loading system CA certs
+    }
+    ...
+    \endcode
+
+    \sa wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs
+    \sa wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations
+    \sa wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations_ex
+*/
+int wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx);
+
 /*!
     \ingroup Setup
 
diff --git a/src/ssl.c b/src/ssl.c
index 00b156fb6..36823fcdb 100644
--- a/src/ssl.c
+++ b/src/ssl.c
@@ -8041,6 +8041,80 @@ int wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file,
     return WS_RETURN_CODE(ret,WOLFSSL_FAILURE);
 }
 
+#ifndef _WIN32
+/* Potential system CA certs directories on Linux distros. */
+static const char* systemCaDirs[] = {
+    "/etc/ssl/certs",                   /* Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, others */
+    "/etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors", /* Fedora, RHEL */
+    "/etc/pki/tls/certs"                /* Older RHEL */
+};
+
+const char** wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs(word32* num)
+{
+    const char** ret;
+
+    if (num == NULL) {
+        ret = NULL;
+    }
+    else {
+        ret = systemCaDirs;
+        *num = sizeof(systemCaDirs)/sizeof(*systemCaDirs);
+    }
+
+    return ret;
+}
+#endif /* !_WIN32 */
+
+int wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx)
+{
+    int ret;
+#ifndef _WIN32
+    word32 i;
+    byte loaded = 0;
+#endif
+
+    WOLFSSL_ENTER("wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs");
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    (void)ctx;
+    ret = WOLFSSL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED;
+#else
+    if (ctx != NULL) {
+        for (i = 0; i < sizeof(systemCaDirs)/sizeof(*systemCaDirs); ++i) {
+            WOLFSSL_MSG_EX("Attempting to load system CA certs from %s.",
+                systemCaDirs[i]);
+            /*
+             * We want to keep trying to load more CAs even if one cert in
+             * the directory is bad and can't be used (e.g. if one is expired),
+             * so we use WOLFSSL_LOAD_FLAG_IGNORE_ERR.
+             */
+            if (wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations_ex(ctx, NULL, systemCaDirs[i],
+                    WOLFSSL_LOAD_FLAG_IGNORE_ERR) != WOLFSSL_SUCCESS) {
+                WOLFSSL_MSG_EX("Failed to load CA certs from %s, trying "
+                    "next possible location.", systemCaDirs[i]);
+            }
+            else {
+                WOLFSSL_MSG_EX("Loaded CA certs from %s.",
+                    systemCaDirs[i]);
+                loaded = 1;
+                /* Stop searching after we've loaded one directory. */
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (loaded) {
+        ret = WOLFSSL_SUCCESS;
+    }
+    else {
+        ret = WOLFSSL_BAD_PATH;
+    }
+#endif
+
+    WOLFSSL_LEAVE("wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs", ret);
+
+    return ret;
+}
 
 #ifdef WOLFSSL_TRUST_PEER_CERT
 /* Used to specify a peer cert to match when connecting
@@ -15961,15 +16035,42 @@ cleanup:
 
 #ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
 
-    #ifndef NO_WOLFSSL_STUB
+    #ifndef NO_FILESYSTEM
+    /*
+     * This is an OpenSSL compatibility layer function, but it doesn't mirror
+     * the exact functionality of its OpenSSL counterpart. We don't support the
+     * notion of an "OpenSSL directory," nor do we support the environment
+     * variables SSL_CERT_DIR or SSL_CERT_FILE. This function is simply a
+     * wrapper around our native wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs function. This
+     * function does conform to OpenSSL's return value conventions, though.
+     */
     int wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx)
     {
-        /* TODO:, not needed in goahead */
-        (void)ctx;
-        WOLFSSL_STUB("SSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths");
-        return SSL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED;
+        int ret;
+
+        WOLFSSL_ENTER("wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths");
+
+        ret = wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(ctx);
+        if (ret == WOLFSSL_BAD_PATH) {
+            /*
+             * OpenSSL doesn't treat the lack of a system CA cert directory as a
+             * failure. We do the same here.
+             */
+            ret = WOLFSSL_SUCCESS;
+        }
+        else if (ret != WOLFSSL_SUCCESS) {
+            /*
+             * All other failure types map to WOLFSSL_FAILURE (0), same as
+             * OpenSSL.
+             */
+            ret = WOLFSSL_FAILURE;
+        }
+
+        WOLFSSL_LEAVE("wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths", ret);
+
+        return ret;
     }
-    #endif
+    #endif /* !NO_FILESYSTEM */
 
     #if defined(WOLFCRYPT_HAVE_SRP) && !defined(NO_SHA256) \
         && !defined(WC_NO_RNG)
diff --git a/tests/api.c b/tests/api.c
index 8eb06a988..5f529338d 100644
--- a/tests/api.c
+++ b/tests/api.c
@@ -1346,6 +1346,77 @@ static int test_wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(void)
     return 0;
 }
 
+static int test_wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(void)
+{
+    int ret = 0;
+
+#if !defined(NO_FILESYSTEM) && !defined(NO_CERTS) && !defined(NO_WOLFSSL_CLIENT)
+    WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx;
+
+    ctx = wolfSSL_CTX_new(wolfSSLv23_client_method());
+    if (ctx == NULL) {
+        ret = -1;
+    }
+    if (ret == 0) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+        if (wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(ctx) != WOLFSSL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED) {
+            ret = -1;
+        }
+#ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
+        if (wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths(ctx) != WOLFSSL_FAILURE) {
+            ret = -1;
+        }
+#endif /* OPENSSL_EXTRA */
+#else
+        word32 numDirs;
+        const char** caDirs = wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs(&numDirs);
+
+        if (caDirs == NULL || numDirs == 0) {
+            ret = -1;
+        }
+        else {
+            ReadDirCtx dirCtx;
+            byte dirValid = 0;
+            word32 i;
+
+            for (i = 0; i < numDirs; ++i) {
+                if (wc_ReadDirFirst(&dirCtx, caDirs[i], NULL) == 0) {
+                    /* Directory isn't empty. */
+                    dirValid = 1;
+                    wc_ReadDirClose(&dirCtx);
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+
+            /*
+             * If the directory isn't empty, we should be able to load CA
+             * certs from it.
+             */
+            if (dirValid && wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(ctx) !=
+                WOLFSSL_SUCCESS) {
+                ret = -1;
+            }
+        #ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
+            /*
+             * Even if we don't have a valid directory to load system CA
+             * certs from, the OpenSSL compat layer function should return
+             * success.
+             */
+            if (wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths(ctx)
+                != WOLFSSL_SUCCESS) {
+                ret = -1;
+            }
+        #endif /* OPENSSL_EXTRA */
+        }
+#endif /* _WIN32 */
+    }
+
+    wolfSSL_CTX_free(ctx);
+#endif /* !NO_FILESYSTEM && !NO_CERTS && !NO_WOLFSSL_CLIENT */
+
+    return ret;
+}
+
 #if !defined(NO_FILESYSTEM) && !defined(NO_CERTS)
 static int test_cm_load_ca_buffer(const byte* cert_buf, size_t cert_sz, int file_type)
 {
@@ -58611,6 +58682,7 @@ TEST_CASE testCases[] = {
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CTX_use_certificate_buffer),
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file),
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations),
+    TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs),
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CertManagerCheckOCSPResponse),
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CheckOCSPResponse),
     TEST_DECL(test_wolfSSL_CertManagerLoadCABuffer),
diff --git a/wolfssl/openssl/ssl.h b/wolfssl/openssl/ssl.h
index f3868dd76..88a6e95b5 100644
--- a/wolfssl/openssl/ssl.h
+++ b/wolfssl/openssl/ssl.h
@@ -267,6 +267,7 @@ typedef STACK_OF(ACCESS_DESCRIPTION) AUTHORITY_INFO_ACCESS;
 #else
     #define SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations     wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations
 #endif
+    #define SSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths
     #define SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file wolfSSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file
     #define SSL_CTX_use_RSAPrivateKey_file    wolfSSL_CTX_use_RSAPrivateKey_file
 
diff --git a/wolfssl/ssl.h b/wolfssl/ssl.h
index 9e6682588..c87315ef7 100644
--- a/wolfssl/ssl.h
+++ b/wolfssl/ssl.h
@@ -1070,6 +1070,13 @@ WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations_ex(
     WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file, const char* path, word32 flags);
 WOLFSSL_ABI WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(
     WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file, const char* path);
+#ifndef _WIN32
+WOLFSSL_API const char** wolfSSL_get_system_CA_dirs(word32* num);
+#endif /* !_WIN32 */
+WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_CTX_load_system_CA_certs(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx);
+#ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
+WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_CTX_set_default_verify_paths(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx);
+#endif /* OPENSSL_EXTRA */
 #ifdef WOLFSSL_TRUST_PEER_CERT
 WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_CTX_trust_peer_cert(
     WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, const char* file, int type);