Connection failed (self signed certificate.? (18))
reddit / irc

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Nocturnal_Sociopath · 2022-11-11 16:38

System info: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS on VMwarer workstation player.

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dukwon · 2022-11-11 16:42

https://www.reddit.com/r/irc/comments/6omarj/hexchat_error_when_trying
_to_connect_to_irchighway/dkilykq/

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NuclearAvocado1 · 2022-11-11 16:43

Disable SSL cert verification

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SadieCat69 · 2022-11-12 00:57

The network you're connecting to is using a self-signed certificate.
If you connected via the server list you need to tick "Accept invalid
SSL certificates" and if you connected with `/server` you need to use
`/server -ssl-noverify`. Note that this is basically the same as
connecting without SSL though.

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DevelopedLogic · 2022-11-12 01:02

Untrue. It's identical to connecting with SSL, you just can't
guarantee the server on the other end is who it says it is. The
connection is still encrypted, and more often than not the server is
the real deal and just poorly configured or you're connecting to it
via the wrong address (still poorly configured as it shouldn't allow
you to)

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SadieCat69 · 2022-11-12 01:16

>you just can't guarantee the server on the other end is who it says
it is.

Yeah, exactly. You can't guarantee the server on the other end is who
it says it is. So anyone who is MITMing you can just terminate the TLS
connection and then re-encrypt using their own self-signed certificate
with the same details. TOFU is a mitigation for this but most clients
don't implement it. The only thing a self-signed certificate protects
against is dragnet surveillance.

There's no good reason for an IRC network to be using a self-signed
certificate in 2022 when they can get valid certs from Lets Encrypt
for free. All it does is give users a false sense of security.
InspIRCd strongly recommends against using self-signed certificates
outside of testing environments but for some reason IRCHighway have
chosen to ignore this.

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DevelopedLogic · 2022-11-12 01:17

Indeed. Still better than nothing but nowhere near up to scratch these
days, there is no excuse

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Nocturnal_Sociopath · 2022-11-12 04:39

The Fix:

From the Hexchat toolbar menu in the top, Go to Hexchat>Network
List>Select which network you want to join(irc highway for me)>Edit
button on the right of the list>make sure the check box for "Accept
invalid SSL certificates"

Thanks y'all for the help. You guys are the real heroes.

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ComputerTech312 · 2023-01-11 20:27

Not chosen, but rather an error of not renewing, as i know as a matter
of fact that they do use Lets Encrypt.

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Hot-Monitor-3472 · 2023-01-30 18:31

simple advice still works follow the directions and author of this
content THANK YOU!

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jkurratt · 2023-05-05 22:53

nice

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imatix2 · 2023-09-08 12:36

solved it for me and im using a windows computer :)