Node.js Hostname/IP doesn't match certificate's altnames

Question

I have code:

var r = require('request');
r({
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://api.dropbox.com'},
  function() { console.log(arguments)  } )

When I run it on desktop with Node 0.9.4, I get this in the console:

{ '0': [Error: Hostname/IP doesn't match certificate's altnames] }

When I run it on Netbook with Node 0.6.12, it all works without error (302 response - I think its right).

In question Node.js hostname/IP doesnt match certificates altnames, Rojuinex write: "Yeah, browser issue... sorry". What does "browser issue" mean?

UPD. This problem was resolved after roll back on Node v0.8

Answer 1

Since 0.9.2 (including 0.10.x) node.js now validates certificates by default. This is why you could see it become more strict when you upgrade past node.js 0.8. (HT: https://github.com/mscdex/node-imap/issues/181#issuecomment-14781480)

You can avoid this with the {rejectUnauthorized:false} option, however this has serious security implications. Anything you send to the peer will still be encrypted, but it becomes much easier to mount a man-in-the-middle attack, i.e. your data will be encrypted to the peer but the peer itself is not the server you think it is!

It would be better to first diagnose why the certificate is not authorizing and see if that could be fixed instead.