diff --git a/src/ssl_sess.c b/src/ssl_sess.c
index 4afd2b97b..0600d4760 100644
--- a/src/ssl_sess.c
+++ b/src/ssl_sess.c
@@ -749,7 +749,7 @@ long wolfSSL_CTX_set_session_cache_mode(WOLFSSL_CTX* ctx, long mode)
 #ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
 #ifdef HAVE_MAX_FRAGMENT
 /* return the max fragment size set when handshake was negotiated */
-uint8_t wolfSSL_SESSION_get_max_fragment_length(WOLFSSL_SESSION* session)
+unsigned char wolfSSL_SESSION_get_max_fragment_length(WOLFSSL_SESSION* session)
 {
     session = ClientSessionToSession(session);
     if (session == NULL) {
diff --git a/wolfssl/ssl.h b/wolfssl/ssl.h
index ba13f5ce5..f21eb749e 100644
--- a/wolfssl/ssl.h
+++ b/wolfssl/ssl.h
@@ -1682,7 +1682,8 @@ WOLFSSL_API void wolfSSL_set_connect_state(WOLFSSL* ssl);
 WOLFSSL_API void wolfSSL_set_accept_state(WOLFSSL* ssl);
 WOLFSSL_API int  wolfSSL_session_reused(WOLFSSL* ssl);
 #ifdef OPENSSL_EXTRA
-WOLFSSL_API uint8_t wolfSSL_SESSION_get_max_fragment_length(
+/* using unsigned char instead of uint8_t here to avoid stdint include */
+WOLFSSL_API unsigned char wolfSSL_SESSION_get_max_fragment_length(
                                                       WOLFSSL_SESSION* session);
 #endif
 WOLFSSL_API int wolfSSL_SESSION_up_ref(WOLFSSL_SESSION* session);