Intermediate SSL Cert

certificatehttpsnode.jsssl

I have an SSL certificate that is self-signed, and therefore uses an intermediate certificate. I am using Node.js and returning both the certificate as well as the certificate chain which includes the intermediate certificate.

It appears that for some people, this works fine but for others it throws an invalid certificate error. Browser/version combination does not seem to matter.

Why would this happen? In what ways can I debug this to find the reason? I cannot seem to resolve it, or even know what ways I can find out what's wrong or why SSL is complaining.

Best Answer

One solution is not to use a self-signed certificate. The other is to install the self-signed certificate into the operating system's Certificate Store. Different browsers look at different locations.

Firefox is one of the few browsers that DO NOT look at the host operating system's Certificate Store. Chrome, IE, Opera all look at Certificate Store when ran on OS X, Linux, and Windows

Related Solutions

SSL Certificate – How to Create Your Own Certificate Chain

You can use OpenSSL directly.

Create a Certificate Authority private key (this is your most important key):
```
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:1024 -nodes -out ca.csr -keyout ca.key
```

Create your CA self-signed certificate:

openssl x509 -trustout -signkey ca.key -days 365 -req -in ca.csr -out ca.pem

Issue a client certificate by first generating the key, then request (or use one provided by external system) then sign the certificate using private key of your CA:
```
openssl genrsa -out client.key 1024
openssl req -new -key client.key -out client.csr
openssl ca -in client.csr -out client.cer
```

(You may need to add some options as I am using these commands together with my openssl.conf file. You may need to setup your own .conf file first.)

PDF Certificates – Where to Get Certificates for Acrobat PDF

This is mostly a link only answer, however I do know that if the signing CA isn't marked as trusted by the app (Acrobat in this case) then it won't be marked as trusted. That being said, this link talks about exactly what your asking: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/approved-trust-list2.html

Best Answer

Related Solutions

SSL Certificate – How to Create Your Own Certificate Chain

PDF Certificates – Where to Get Certificates for Acrobat PDF

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