diff --git a/napalm_procurve/procurve.py b/napalm_procurve/procurve.py
index e264248..698fca2 100644
--- a/napalm_procurve/procurve.py
+++ b/napalm_procurve/procurve.py
@@ -592,40 +592,52 @@ class ProcurveDriver(ConfigLifecycleMixin, SwitchDriver):
         return {"running": running, "startup": startup, "candidate": candidate}
 
     def _get_config_via_ssh(self) -> str:
-        """Open a one-shot SSH session to retrieve running-config.
+        """Retrieve running-config via OpenSSH subprocess (sshpass + ssh).
 
-        Used as fallback when the REST API does not expose the config endpoint
-        (e.g. HP 2530 / YA firmware with Mocana SSH).
-
-        Uses SSHClient.connect() with the same approach as the netOrk SSH
-        console link (_paramiko_connect in _helpers.py) — no algorithm
-        overrides, plain password auth, 15-second banner timeout.
+        paramiko is incompatible with Mocana SSH 6.3 on HP 2530 / YA firmware.
+        OpenSSH has better legacy algorithm support and connects where paramiko
+        fails.  Requires openssh-client + sshpass installed in the environment.
         """
-        import paramiko
+        import shutil
+        import subprocess
 
-        _TIMEOUT = 15
+        _TIMEOUT = 12
 
+        if not shutil.which("sshpass") or not shutil.which("ssh"):
+            logger.warning("sshpass/ssh not available — skipping SSH config fallback for %s", self.hostname)
+            return ""
+
+        cmd = [
+            "sshpass", "-p", self.password or "",
+            "ssh",
+            "-o", "StrictHostKeyChecking=no",
+            "-o", "UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null",
+            "-o", f"ConnectTimeout={_TIMEOUT}",
+            "-o", "BatchMode=no",
+            "-o", "KexAlgorithms=+diffie-hellman-group1-sha1,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1",
+            "-o", "HostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa",
+            "-p", str(self.port or 22),
+            f"{self.username}@{self.hostname}",
+            "show running-config",
+        ]
         try:
-            client = paramiko.SSHClient()
-            client.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
-            client.connect(
-                hostname=self.hostname,
-                port=self.port or 22,
-                username=self.username,
-                password=self.password,
-                timeout=_TIMEOUT,
-                banner_timeout=_TIMEOUT,
-                auth_timeout=_TIMEOUT,
-                look_for_keys=False,
-                allow_agent=False,
+            result = subprocess.run(
+                cmd,
+                capture_output=True,
+                text=True,
+                timeout=_TIMEOUT + 3,
             )
-            _, stdout, _ = client.exec_command("show running-config", timeout=_TIMEOUT)
-            config = stdout.read().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
-            client.close()
-            return config
+            if result.returncode == 0 and result.stdout.strip():
+                return result.stdout
+            logger.warning(
+                "SSH config fallback (openssh) failed for %s: rc=%s err=%s",
+                self.hostname, result.returncode, result.stderr[:200],
+            )
+        except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+            logger.warning("SSH config fallback timed out for %s", self.hostname)
         except Exception as exc:
             logger.warning("SSH config fallback failed for %s: %s", self.hostname, exc)
-            return ""
+        return ""
 
     # ------------------------------------------------------------------
     # NAPALM: get_environment