Since yesterday afternoon (October 31st), many website are showing SSL errors.
What are the symptoms of this issue?
Some of the errors you may see include:
- SSL_ERROR_INTERNAL_ERROR_ALERT (Mozilla Firefox)
- ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL (Google Chrome)
- 525 SSL Handshake failed (Cloudflare)
What is causing this issue?
iFastNet is currently making some changes to how SSL is handled on the free hosting platform. In preparation of this, the default, self signed SSL certificate has been removed from the system.
If your website currently relies on the self signed SSL certificate (for example, if you’re using it with Cloudflare’s “Full” SSL mode), your website will not work over HTTPS.
What can I do to fix this?
There are a couple of things you can do to fix this, depending on how you use the self signed SSL certificate.
- If you’re using Cloudflare, you can switch your website from “Full” SSL mode to “Flexible”. However, not every website will like it if they are configured to use HTTPS URLs but they don’t detect the SSL connection on the server themselves. If that happens, you’ll likely see a redirect loop error (like ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS). You’ll need to check the documentation of your software or search the web for a solution which works for you.
- You can install a valid SSL certificate signed by a real certificate authority. These certificates still work (both with and without having Cloudflare on your site). You can get an SSL certificate like that using the SSL Certificates tool in the client area.
- Disable HTTPS on your site and only use HTTP at this moment.
When will this issue be resolved?
We expect the first changes to go live within the next 48 hours. However, this may not fix all websites immediately. It’s highly recommended to implement one of the workarounds listed above to bring your website back online.