diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/qt/setup/setup.cc b/selfdrive/ui/qt/setup/setup.cc
index bd830677db..01bc4012f0 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/qt/setup/setup.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/qt/setup/setup.cc
@@ -19,7 +19,13 @@
 const char* USER_AGENT = "AGNOSSetup-0.1";
 const QString DASHCAM_URL = "https://dashcam.comma.ai";
 
+struct CURLGlobalInitializer {
+  CURLGlobalInitializer() { curl_global_init(CURL_GLOBAL_DEFAULT); }
+  ~CURLGlobalInitializer() { curl_global_cleanup(); }
+};
+
 void Setup::download(QString url) {
+  static CURLGlobalInitializer curl_initializer;
   CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
   if (!curl) {
     emit finished(false);