SSL: certificate subject name 'server.example.com' does not match target host name 'server'

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • SSL/TLS client

Issue

  • I have checked DNS and the SSL cert and they all have the fully qualified domain name so I am not sure why it thinks that is the target host name.

Resolution

Make sure the client access the server by using the subject specified in the server certificate. Normally the server certificates subject(CN) includes the Fully Qualified Name of the server, so the client should access the server using the same. The connection would fail if the client try to use short name or IP address of the server.

# certutil -L -d . -n "directory-Server-Cert"
Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 3 (0x2)
        Serial Number: 1001 (0x3e9)
        Signature Algorithm: PKCS #1 SHA-1 With RSA Encryption
        Issuer: "CN=GSS PNQ CA,O=GSS,L=Pune,ST=Maharashtra,C=IN"
        Validity:
            Not Before: Fri Apr 05 19:00:53 2013
            Not After : Wed Apr 05 19:00:53 2073
        Subject: "CN=ldap.example.com"
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: PKCS #1 RSA Encryption
            RSA Public Key:
                Modulus:
                    d9:b1:a6:ab:1f:56:7e:1c:53:04:78:4e:77:36:51:5f:
                    79:3d:e8:6a:b6:5b:9e:f4:29:8f:59:6f:b8:1d:3e:57:
                    31:15:ef:03:f6:7c:9a:4a:47:9b:9a:2d:f6:46:82:6c:
                    e7:1c:a9:0f:07:6c:03:40:03:03:64:7b:0b:60:9b:9d:
                    7d:f3:50:b9:b7:03:f5:7c:7f:e9:99:2d:45:6a:59:98:
                    ec:ad:23:2d:e4:27:c6:35:10:7a:98:1b:c9:59:53:a9:
                    d1:a6:4e:21:3b:fc:84:bb:a0:27:bc:67:ad:e3:25:d2:
                    06:04:44:b3:cd:fa:5b:81:37:ae:46:04:57:e6:35:89
                Exponent: 65537 (0x10001)

Diagnostic Steps

  • Use openssl command to get details of the certificate.
# openssl x509 -in <pem format certificate file> -noout -text

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