Behat cURL SSL certificate error on localhost

Question

I try to test features of a Drupal site in a local development environment (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Apache2, php-5.6.17) with Behat but I always run into an SSL certificate problem (since the site switches from http to https if you log in with any user). Testing features with anonymous user works correctly because it only requires a http connection.

The site which need to be tested is not mine, I just have to test some features in it. To be able to use the site in my localhost (to be able to log in with a https connection) I created a virtual host for the site with SSL properties. Similarly like it is described here, but instead of the default-ssl.conf I use my own virtual host file. I generated my self signed SSL certificate related files as it described in the above linked article.

I set up Behat for the site as a standalone installation (using Composer) and in my behat.yml file I already tried the below goutte configuration with no luck:

extensions:
  Behat\MinkExtension:
    goutte:
      guzzle_parameters:
        verify: false

I always get the same error message during testing:

cURL error 60: SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate (see http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/libcurl-errors.html) (GuzzleHttp\Exception\RequestException)

What could be the problem, how could I ignore the SSL check?

Simone Carletti Simone Carletti · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-24T21:22:27

The error means the hostname you are connecting to via HTTPS is using a self-signed certificate instead of a certificate issued by a trusted authority.

If you are connecting to a production website, this is a symptom that something is wrong with the destination website and it may represent a potential security issue. Instead, if the target destination is known (e.g. you setup that hostname) and you can guarantee for its authenticity, then you can ignore the error.

In general, you should not allow untrusted HTTPS connections.

Behat cURL SSL certificate error on localhost

1 Answers