To ignore invalid and self-signed certificates using cURL you need to use the -k option. Here is a sample command that sends a GET request to our hosted version of
HTTPBin
with the -k option:
curl -k https://httpbin.scrapingbee.com
Be careful, ignoring invalid and self-signed certificates is a security risk and should only be used for testing purposes. In production, you should always use valid certificates as accepting invalid ones mean that you will be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
What is cURL?
cURL is an open-source command-line tool used to transfer data to and from a server. It is extremely versatile and supports various protocols including HTTP, FTP, SMTP, and many others. It is generally used to test and interact with APIs, download files, and perform various other tasks involving network communication.
What is a self-signed certificate?
A self-signed certificate is a certificate that is not signed by a trusted certificate authority (CA). It is usually used for testing purposes and is not secure. It is also called a "fake" certificate because it is not signed by a trusted CA.
What is an invalid certificate?
An invalid certificate is a certificate that is not valid. It can be invalid for various reasons, such as:
- The certificate is expired
- The certificate is not yet valid
- The certificate is signed by an untrusted CA
- The chain doesn’t end with a trusted root certificate.
- The site only use a weak signature algorithm (MD5, SHA1, etc.)