urllib and "SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED" Error

Question

I am getting the following error:

Exception in thread Thread-3: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 810, in        __bootstrap_inner self.run() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 763, in  run self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs) File "/Users/Matthew/Desktop/Skypebot 2.0/bot.py", line 271, in process info = urllib2.urlopen(req).read() File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 154, in urlopen return opener.open(url, data, timeout) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 431, in open response = self._open(req, data) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 449, in _open '_open', req) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 409, in _call_chain result = func(*args) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1240, in https_open context=self._context) File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/urllib2.py", line 1197, in do_open raise URLError(err) URLError: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed (_ssl.c:581)> 

This is the code that is causing this error:

if input.startswith("!web"):     input = input.replace("!web ", "")           url = "https://domainsearch.p.mashape.com/index.php?name=" + input     req = urllib2.Request(url, headers={ 'X-Mashape-Key': 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX' })     info = urllib2.urlopen(req).read()     Message.Chat.SendMessage ("" + info) 

The API I'm using requires me to use HTTPS. How can I make it bypass the verification?

Answer 1

This isn't a solution to your specific problem, but I'm putting it here because this thread is the top Google result for "SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED", and it lead me on a wild goose chase.

If you have installed Python 3.6 on OSX and are getting the "SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED" error when trying to connect to an https:// site, it's probably because Python 3.6 on OSX has no certificates at all, and can't validate any SSL connections. This is a change for 3.6 on OSX, and requires a post-install step, which installs the certifi package of certificates. This is documented in the file ReadMe.rtf, which you can find at /Applications/Python\ 3.6/ReadMe.rtf (see also the file Conclusion.rtf, and the script build-installer.py that generates the macOS installer).

The ReadMe will have you run the post-install script at /Applications/Python\ 3.6/Install\ Certificates.command (its source is install_certificates.command), which:

• first installs the Python package certifi, and
• then creates a symbolic link from the OpenSSL certificates file to the certificates file installed by the package certifi.

Release notes have some more info: https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-360/

On newer versions of Python, there is more documentation about this:

• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/resources/ReadMe.rtf#L22-L34
• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/resources/Conclusion.rtf#L15-L19
• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/resources/Welcome.rtf#L23-L25
• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/resources/install_certificates.command
• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/README.rst
• https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/e05a703848473b0365886dcc593cbddc46609f29/Mac/BuildScript/build-installer.py#L239-L246