How to find the path to a SSL cert file?

Question

I want to use Python Requests to get the contents of internal company web page (say, https://internal.com). I can see this page in the browser, and I can "view the certificate."

So now I want to get the web page with Requests, so I do:

import requests
requests.get('https://internal.com')

But then I get an SSLError:

SSLError: [Errno 1] _ssl.c:504: error:14090086:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed

So I guess I need to specify a cert file:

requests.get('https://example.com', cert=('/path/server.crt', '/path/key'))

But how do I find the path to the cert file? Can I get this info from Chrome or IE when viewing the web page? Or am I missing something even more basic?

Answer 1

The cert parameter is for client-side authentication. If you wanted to prove your identity to the server. If this was the problem you would get an error on the server.

What you need is server-side authentication. The server has to prove it's identity. As your are connecting to an internal server requests doesn't have this server certificate in it's supplied bundle and therefore can't confirm the servers identity. You have to supply requests with your internal CA-bundle. To do this you have to extract it from your browser first.

From the docs:

You can also pass "verify" the path to a "CA_BUNDLE" file for private certs.
You can also set the "REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE" environment variable.

Chrome (short version):

• Put this in your URL-bar chrome://settings/certificates
• Choose tab "Authorities"
• Find your internal CA and click export
• Best format is "Base64 encoded certificate chain"
• save to a location where you will find it again
• now you can use `request.get(url, verify=)

You can also visit the certificate manager by:

(Steps for chrome, quite similar for other browsers)

• Go to settings
• Click "Show advanced settings" at the bottom
• HTTPS/SSL -> "Manage Certificates"
• See above