SSL certificate error while connecting to api.zotero.org

  • Hi !

    Thank you for this post :)

    I have similar problems, meaning my zotero 5 standalone cannot sync at all : it gives me the following message (translated from french) :

    When I enter my id and password in the parameters, I get this popup message :

    There was a SSL certificat error while connecting to api.zotero.org

    And after this, if I look at the sync button in the main zotero windows, it displays an error button with something like "Zotero sync server did not accept your ID, please check these informations bla bla bla".

    The thing is I checked it like 30 times for the last 2 days on my laptop, on my phone, on my office computer, and it works everywhere : chrome opera, mozzila, edge as well as on the Firefox modules.
    The only place where it bugs is Zotero5 :/

    I even tried to change my password for a text and numbers only (As a french I had accent -letters as well as special typo, so I tried a simpler password, no result ...)



    Thank you in advance for your help :)
  • (It's better to start new threads for sync issues — yours isn't at all related to the other thread.)

    For your issue, see SSL Certificate Error. Something is interfering with Zotero's internet connection.
  • Are you using any sort of security software on your computer or connecting to the internet through a proxy?
  • Thank you very much for your answers and this post creation :)

    I was not sure if it was the right thing to do as forum usually require people to look for similar posts before posting ...

    So...

    I am running Kaspersky full protection, but it does not seem to interfere with the web browser nor with the firefox zotero app ...

    Still, I can try to create a rule for standalone in Kaspersky if you think it might do the trick.

    The thing is, I didn't get a "not possible to communicate with the server " kind of error but a SSL error when typing in the password, as well as a comment nearby the sync button , something like "your password and ID were rejected by the server".

    This is why I thought that the standalone could communicate with the server while failing the authentication.


    In advance, thank you so much for your help :)
  • So what does it say when you load https://sync.zotero.org/ in your browser?

  • For both site I get a "Nothing to see here." answer when I type it in the address bar.

    Both with chrome and Mozzila...

    Before I continue, I just want to precises these 3 points :
    (1) My zotero application 4.0 works just fine on firefox,
    (2) My standalone work with a different folder to avoid problems of compatibility with the FF module 4.0,
    (3) I checked my Kaspersky parameters and everything seems to be fully authorized for Zotero standalone


    The certificate is as follow

    Edited for :
    CN = *.zotero.org
    O = "not part of the certificate"
    OU = "not part of the certificate"
    Serial = 31:84:B1:01:DF:CE:7F:A2:90:B1:AD:D8

    Edited By :
    CN= Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal Root Certificate
    O= AO Kaspersky Lab
    OU = "not part of the certificate"

    Validity period 29 october 2016 to 3 november 2018

    Numeric prints
    SHA-256= 93:0D:48:20:4F:6F:D9:F9:D7:E2:A7:D4:1A:13:43:36:B8:59:29:26:EA:B9:E4:7B:27:F6:DF:CA:DA:97:8C:B0

    SHA1 = BE:58:79:7F:63:17:83:09:55:57:61:E4:AB:B8:09:45:E3:9D:FF:4E


    Now, I am not sure whether or not this certificate that I obtained using my web browser is the same as the one used by the standalone application ...

    Is it possible that some kind of conflict exists due to the different languages ?


    Thank you for your answers and your time :)
  • Yeah, you'll need to run through the steps under 4. here:
    https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/ssl_certificate_error

  • Thank you for your help !
    This SSL tutorial seems good and complete :)
    I tested some of the propositions but not all .
    I will try the following and see if it works :
    -from another network (I suspected it might come from the use of a 4G USB smartphone link but didn't get a chance of testing another network).
    -Going through my kaspersky settings to see if it does the trick ...

  • I have a similar problem -
    "The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown."

    I found out that the certificate is issued by our organisation. What should be done to get the certificate trusted?

    Thank you in advance for help.
  • See the page that adamsmith links to.
  • I have seen this page. Therefore I know that the certificate of zotero.org is isuue by our organisation. Zotero uses the system proxy settings of my computer. I use the Chrome browser.
    But after reading the informations in this link I can't understand what should I do to get the certificate accepted by zotero.
  • here are the instructions linked from that page: https://www.zotero.org/support/kb/cert_override
    you may need to enlist IT to get you set-up -- they force you on the local certificate and we can only supply limited support for this.
  • Thank you for the answer!
    The instructions are based on firefox which I can't use. In the chrome directories I can not find the mentioned files cert8.db and cert_override.txt...
  • I'm afraid there's no reasonably easy way to do this without Firefox. You'd have to find a way to generate the cert8.db and cert_override.txt files for the certificates forced on you by your institutions. There are tools for this, I believe, but they're pretty involved and beyond the scope of what we can support here. You should get in touch with your IT and get them to help you. After all, they are the ones breaking your SSL connection.
  • I cannot find cert8.db in my firefox profile directory. There is cert9.db. However copying it over to zotero is not working
  • I have the same problem.

    Firefox works. But in the Firefox profile directory I can't find a cert8.db, key8.db file to copy to the zotero profile, but only a cert9.db, key4.db.

    How can I handle this problem. Is it possible to generate from FF60 a cert8.db file or to adapt zotero5 to use a cert9.db file?

    Thanks for help.
  • See https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/72233/zotero-5-and-ssl-certificate-error#latest
    though I don't know how to convert the cert9 to cert8 as mentioned in that thread.
  • Thanks for this hint.
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