urllib and “SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED” Error

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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?

42 Answers
42

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

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