SSL Certificate Problem: Unable to get Local Issuer Certificate

Better Stack Team
Updated on May 4, 2022

Problem

Received SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate error when executing curl request to a secure HTTPS destination.

Cause of the problem

If you get SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate error, it's an indication that your root and intermediate certificates on the system are not working correctly or not set up correctly.

Solution

  1. Download the latest cacert.pem from https://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem
  2. Add the --cacert /path/to/cacert.pem flag to the curl command to tell curl where the local Certificate Authority file is.

If you are using PHP:

Add the following line to the php.ini file or users.ini if you are on the shared hosting:

 
curl.cainfo="/path/to/downloaded/cacert.pem"