document our oldest supported openssl and deny older support
diff --git a/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst b/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst
index d6351c9..547fe76 100644
--- a/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst
+++ b/docs/hazmat/backends/openssl.rst
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
OpenSSL Backend
===============
-The `OpenSSL`_ C library.
+The `OpenSSL`_ C library. Cryptography supports version ``0.9.8e`` (present in
+Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) and greater. Earlier versions may work but are
+**not tested or supported**.
.. data:: cryptography.hazmat.backends.openssl.backend