SSL is a standard in web encryption technology. Occasionally, a website will have issues related to this security system, which may cause an error to occur.
What is a Certificate?
A certificate is essentially a badge provided by a third party that verifies that the page you are trying to access is legitimate. Without a certificate, a third party can easily "spoof" a website to steal personal information. Using HTTP instead of HTTPS opens your data and browsing to a wide variety of easily preventable attacks.
Below are errors that usually appear in Firefox or Chrome.
Possible Errors
Bypassable Errors
Some errors can be bypassed by going to Advanced → Proceed to Website (unsafe). For these errors, it is not recommended to proceed, as any information or forms you enter can be easily intercepted.
Currently, the only bypassable error is:
NET::ERR_CERT_CONTAINS_ERRORS
Non-Bypassable Errors
Most SSL errors in browsers are non-bypassable, meaning it is up to the site owner to fix the SSL certificate.
Workarounds for Non-Bypassable Errors
It is possible to fix this in some cases by doing the following:
- Clear the Cache in Web Browsers.
- Manually enter HTTP://site.com.
If it is an emergency and you are only attempting to view information (no logins), then it is possible to disable browser security.
Launching Chrome with Flags on Windows
- Press the Win + R keys.
- Enter "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe."
--ignore-certificate-errors
- Press Enter.
Launching Chrome with Flags on OSX
- Open Terminal under Finder → Applications → Utilities.
- Enter
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --ignore-certificate-errors --ignore-urlfetcher-cert-requests &> /dev/null
- Press Enter.
List of non-bypassable errors.
NET::ERR_CERT_INVALID - Generic Error
NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID - The date the website provided was not what the cert authority had on record, so it can't be trusted.
NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID - The cert authority the website provided was not who actually issued it, so it can't be trusted.
NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID - The website you are trying to get to is not who the cert authority issued the cert to, so it can't be trusted.
NET::ERR_CERTIFICATE_TRANSPARENCY_REQUIRED - The certificate requires transparency, but the one provided did not match up, so it can't be trusted.
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