curl SSL certification error

Question

I have been trying to install meteor on my macbook pro and have been facing problems with the certifications. I get the following error:

curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: self signed certificate in certificate chain More details here: https://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.

After using curl --insecure https://install.meteor.com | ssh, I get the following error message:

Downloading Meteor distribution

curl: (60) SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate More details here: https://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. Installation failed.

(Notice the installation failed message).

Please anyone help me with this issue.

Thanks in advance. Edit:

After running curl install.meteor.com | sh -x like Fedor asked me to run I got the following message:

• run_it
• RELEASE=1.2.1
• PREFIX=/usr/local
• set -e
• set -u
• exec ++ uname
• UNAME=Darwin
• '[' Darwin '>' MINGW -a Darwin '<' MINGX ']'
• '[' Darwin '!=' Linux -a Darwin '!=' Darwin ']'
• '[' Darwin = Darwin ']' ++ uname -p ++ sysctl -n hw.cpu64bit_capable
• '[' i386 '!=' i386 -o 1 '!=' 1 ']'
• grep BUNDLE_VERSION /usr/local/bin/meteor
• PLATFORM=os.osx.x86_64
• trap 'echo Installation failed.' EXIT
• '[' -e /Users/usama/.meteor ']'
• TARBALL_URL=https://d3sqy0vbqsdhku.cloudfront.net/packages-bootstrap/1.2.1/meteor-bootstrap-os.osx.x86_64.tar.gz
• INSTALL_TMPDIR=/Users/usama/.meteor-install-tmp
• rm -rf /Users/usama/.meteor-install-tmp
• mkdir /Users/usama/.meteor-install-tmp
• echo 'Downloading Meteor distribution' Downloading Meteor distribution
• curl --progress-bar --fail https://d3sqy0vbqsdhku.cloudfront.net/packages-bootstrap/1.2.1/meteor-bootstrap-os.osx.x86_64.tar.gz
• tar -xzf - -C /Users/usama/.meteor-install-tmp -o

Answer 1

Quick answer is: installation script that you download by itself calls curl to download tarball, and it does so without -k option:

$ curl -s https://install.meteor.com | grep curl
curl --progress-bar --fail "$TARBALL_URL" | tar -xzf - -C "$INSTALL_TMPDIR" -o

To press curl into it you can add --insecure to your curlrc:

$ echo insecure >> ~/.curlrc

Or just use http:

$ curl http://install.meteor.com

But i would strongly advise to look into problem itself - there might be someone MitM'ing you. Certificate of install.meteor.com seems fine to me.

Answer 2

This is the way I solve this issue.

1. Browse the install script in the web browser. (https://install.meteor.com/)

2. Save the script in your home as install_meteor.sh

3. In the Terminal, run sh install_meteor.sh

If you run like this, you will see that the error actually occurs in the installation script. What you have to do is to edit the script to make it ignore the certificate verification.

4. vi install_meteor.sh to edit the install script.

5. Look for the line curl --progress-bar --fail "$TARBALL_URL" | tar -xzf - -C "$INSTALL_TMPDIR" -o

6. Change this to curl -k --progress-bar --fail "$TARBALL_URL" | tar -xzf - -C "$INSTALL_TMPDIR" -o

7. Save it and run sh install_meteor.sh again.

Answer 3

I reinstalled the OS and the error finished. I know this should not be the solution but this is what worked for me. I hope someone else posts a better solution.

Answer 4

I ran into this issue when install on VMbox running Ubuntu 16 and routing through a VPN. After checking https://install.meteor.com in the browser the issue for me was that the CA was showing an expiration and also renewal date that had already passed.

The date of my VM machine was off by several days (not sure how this happened) and the time was being set automatically by my VPN which was located in a different county. Manually setting the date and time corrected the CA issue.

Note: In my case the date was off by 4 days, however, there is still a small window for this error to occur even if the time and date are set correctly — it just depends on when the CA expires and renews relative to your system date/time settings. You can either try curl again in a day, or a quicker solution — set your date/time appropriately and try again.