The variable keeps the latest SSL protocol version supported by the client.
The variable has the same format as $ssl_protocol.
The version is read from the client_version field of ClientHello. If the
supported_versions extension is present in the ClientHello, then the version
is set to TLSv1.3.
SSL version 3.0 can be specified by the client at the record level for
compatibility reasons. Previously, ssl_preread module rejected such
connections, presuming they don't have SNI. Now SSL 3.0 is allowed at
the record level.
The ssl_preread module extracts information from the SSL Client Hello message
without terminating SSL. Currently, only $ssl_preread_server_name variable
is supported, which contains server name from the SNI extension.