This relates to DST Root CA X3 Expiration (September 2021)
When searching online for a fix to apply on an older server (Debian 8 in my case) that does call to sites encrypted with letsencrypt with curl
, they now seem to fail with the following message:
Example:
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | bash -
Fails silently, then trying it manually and removing the silent flag and bash pipe like this:
curl -L https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x
curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: certificate has expired
More details here: http://curl.haxx.se/docs/sslcerts.html
curl performs SSL certificate verification by default, using a "bundle"
of Certificate Authority (CA) public keys (CA certs). If the default
bundle file isn't adequate, you can specify an alternate file
using the --cacert option.
If this HTTPS server uses a certificate signed by a CA represented in
the bundle, the certificate verification probably failed due to a
problem with the certificate (it might be expired, or the name might
not match the domain name in the URL).
If you'd like to turn off curl's verification of the certificate, use
the -k (or --insecure) option.
Trying the following commands doesn't solve the issue:
apt update
apt install -y ca-certificates openssl
update-ca-certificates
What can I do!? (answering my own question) ⬇️
disclaimer; I'm no security expert (I know things, but you do you). Make sure you understand what you do before applying whatever fix shared here
Fix by upgrading your instances
Upgrade your instances. This problem won't happen on Debian 9 or higher.
In the following example, I had this problem on a
ruby:2.4.1
docker image which is based on Debian 8 (could be considered old). Upgrading to more recent docker image fixes this issue. Uprading to a more recent Debian version should also fix the issue.I confirmed it does not happen when using
ruby:2.7.0
docker image based on Debian 11 as shown here:Fix for Debian 8 by commenting DST_Root_CA_X3.crt from /etc/ca-certificates.conf
Even if ISRG Root X1 is in place, if DST Root CA X3 is still present and in use, its verification seems to happen first so we can get rid of it by doing this:
ca-certificates
package/mozilla/DST_Root_CA_X3.crt
line from/etc/ca-certificates.conf
/usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/ISRG_Root_X1.crt
is there (it should be)update-ca-certificates
Same as above, but using scripts directly on your instance
Example fix in a
Dockerfile
:Fix interactively using dpkg-reconfigure ca-certificates
As stated in the comments, you can also fix this interactively using the following command on the instance (requires
ca-certificates
package installed):Then disable
mozilla/DST_Root_CA_X3.crt
from the list.Conclusion
If you'd like to learn more, you should read Scott Helme's post: Let's Encrypt's Root Certificate is expiring!
You can now
curl
letsencrypt sites safely with these safety glasses: