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python requests ignore sslcertverificationerror

Narkw Brahma

Narkw Brahma

• 1 min read

How to Handle SSL Certificate Verification Errors in Python Requests Library

If you are working with the Python Requests library, sometimes you may encounter SSL certificate verification errors while making HTTPS requests to secure websites. These errors occur when the SSL certificate presented by the website is either invalid, expired or self-signed. In such cases, the requests library will raise an SSLCertVerificationError exception by default.

Ignoring these errors may pose a security risk as it could allow man-in-the-middle attacks. However, if you are confident that the website you are trying to access is secure, you can choose to disable SSL certificate verification.

Option 1: Disable SSL Verification Globally


import requests
requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings() # Ignore warnings
response = requests.get('https://www.example.com', verify=False) # Disable SSL Verification
print(response.text)

In this method, we disable SSL certificate verification globally for all requests made using the requests library. We first import the requests library and then disable warnings using the urllib3 package. We then make a request to the website by setting the verify parameter to False.

Option 2: Disable SSL Verification Locally


import requests
from requests.exceptions import InsecureRequestWarning
response = requests.get('https://www.example.com', verify=False, 
                        headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'}, 
                        stream=True, allow_redirects=True)

if response.status_code == 200:
    # Do something with the response
    pass
else:
    # Handle error
    pass

In this method, we disable SSL certificate verification locally for a specific request. We import the requests library and the InsecureRequestWarning exception. We then make a request to the website by setting the verify parameter to False, and passing additional parameters such as headers, stream, and allow_redirects. We then check the status code of the response and handle any errors that occur.

Option 3: Use a Custom SSL Certificate


import requests
response = requests.get('https://www.example.com', verify='/path/to/certfile.pem')
print(response.text)

In this method, we use a custom SSL certificate file to verify the website's SSL certificate. We make a request to the website by passing the path to the certificate file as the value of the verify parameter.

In conclusion, while it is not recommended to disable SSL certificate verification in Python Requests, there are situations where it may be necessary. Always exercise caution when doing so and only use it when you are confident that the website is secure.

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