diff --git a/contrib/hooks/bumpOpenSSL.py b/contrib/hooks/bumpOpenSSL.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6b0910329
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/hooks/bumpOpenSSL.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+from easybuild.framework.easyconfig.constants import EASYCONFIG_CONSTANTS
+
+
+def parse_hook(ec, *args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    EasyBuild parse hook for EL9+ compatibility
+    """
+    # looks like [('zlib', '1.2.13'), ('OpenSSL', '1.1', '', {'name': 'system', 'version': 'system'})]
+    raw_deps = ec['dependencies'] if 'dependencies' in ec else []
+
+    # Check if OpenSSL is in any dependency tuple's first element
+    openssl_found = any(dep[0] == 'OpenSSL' for dep in raw_deps)
+
+    # if found, replace its version - second element in the tuple with '3'.
+    if openssl_found:
+        print(f"[openssl1->3 hook] OpenSSL found in dependencies of {ec['name']}, replacing with OpenSSL 3")
+        for i, dep in enumerate(raw_deps):
+            if dep[0] == 'OpenSSL' and dep[1] == '1.1':
+                raw_deps[i] = ('OpenSSL', '3', '', EASYCONFIG_CONSTANTS['SYSTEM'][0])
+                break
+
+    else:
+        # no need to do anything
+        return
+
+    ec['dependencies'] = raw_deps