configure Git to accept a particular self-signed server certificate for a particular https remote

Question

The sysadmin for a project I'm on has decided that SSH is "too much trouble"; instead, he has set up Git to be accessible via an https:// URL (and username/password authentication). The server for this URL presents a self-signed certificate, so he advised everyone to turn off certificate validation. This does not strike me as a good setup, security-wise.

Is it possible to tell Git that for remote X (or better, any remote in any repository that happens to begin with https://$SERVERNAME/) it is to accept a particular certificate, and only that certificate? Basically reduplicate SSH's server-key behavior.

Answer 1

Briefly:

1. Get the self signed certificate
2. Put it into some (e.g. ~/git-certs/cert.pem) file
3. Set git to trust this certificate using http.sslCAInfo parameter

In more details:

Get self signed certificate of remote server

Assuming, the server URL is repos.sample.com and you want to access it over port 443.

There are multiple options, how to get it.

Get certificate using openssl

$ openssl s_client -connect repos.sample.com:443

Catch the output into a file cert.pem and delete all but part between (and including) -BEGIN CERTIFICATE- and -END CERTIFICATE-

Content of resulting file ~/git-certs/cert.pem may look like this:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Get certificate using your web browser

I use Redmine with Git repositories and I access the same URL for web UI and for git command line access. This way, I had to add exception for that domain into my web browser.

Using Firefox, I went to Options -> Advanced -> Certificates -> View Certificates -> Servers, found there the selfsigned host, selected it and using Export button I got exactly the same file, as created using openssl.

Note: I was a bit surprised, there is no name of the authority visibly mentioned. This is fine.

Having the trusted certificate in dedicated file

Previous steps shall result in having the certificate in some file. It does not matter, what file it is as long as it is visible to your git when accessing that domain. I used ~/git-certs/cert.pem

Note: If you need more trusted selfsigned certificates, put them into the same file:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIDnzCCAocCBE/xnXAwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQAwgZMxCzAJBgNVBAYTAkRFMRUw
...........
/27/jIdVQIKvHok2P/u9tvTUQA==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
AnOtHeRtRuStEdCeRtIfIcAtEgOeShErExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxw
...........
/27/jIdVQIKvHok2P/u9tvTUQA==
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

This shall work (but I tested it only with single certificate).

Configure git to trust this certificate

$ git config --global http.sslCAInfo /home/javl/git-certs/cert.pem

You may also try to do that system wide, using --system instead of --global.

And test it: You shall now be able communicating with your server without resorting to:

$ git config --global http.sslVerify false #NO NEED TO USE THIS

If you already set your git to ignorance of ssl certificates, unset it:

$ git config --global --unset http.sslVerify

and you may also check, that you did it all correctly, without spelling errors:

$ git config --global --list

what should list all variables, you have set globally. (I mispelled http to htt).