The checkallsslcerts Script

Overview

In the past, cPanel & WHM services used a self-signed certificate. Now all cPanel & WHM services use a cPanel-signed hostname certificate with a Comodo® trust chain. This document explains how the system installs a cPanel-signed hostname certificate and how to disable SSL if you do not wish to use it. 

The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts script

The system runs the /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts script during the nightly cPanel & WHM update (upcp) process. This script performs the following actions:

• Installs a cPanel-signed hostname certificate on the server, if one does not exist.
• Updates the SSL certificate for all cPanel & WHM services.
  

• Issues a Comodo signed SSL certificate on any server with a self-signed, expired, or soon-to-expire certificate.

  Note:

  A soon-to-expire certificate means that the SSL certificate expires in three days or fewer.

  
  

To execute these actions, the script performs the following steps:

1. The system creates a Domain Control Validation (DCV) file in the /usr/local/apache/htdocs/DCV.txt file, which resembles the following example:

    

   4221C402112E4831C72C2E004614C47C.txt

2. The system performs a DNS lookup for the hostname's IP address on the root nameservers. To do this, it runs the following command:

   dig =trace hostname.example.com

   Notes:

   • If the dig command returns multiple IP addresses, the system uses the first IP address that the command returns.
   • In this example, hostname.example.com represents the server's hostname.

3. The system uses the hostname's IP address to confirm that it can access the Domain Control Validation (DCV) file. To do this, it runs the following command:

   curl 192.0.2.102/AFAA5C66A1EEF5812703A46C21C013B4.txt

   Note:

   In this example, 192.0.2.102 represents the primary IP address, and AFAA5C66A1EEF5812703A46C21C013B4.txt represents the DCV file.

4. When the local DCV check passes, the system sends a request to the cPanel Store API for the new SSL certificate.

   • If a valid SSL certificate exists and matches the DCV file, the system does not perform any action.

   • If the system must issue a new SSL certificate, the systems sends a request to Comodo.

   • Comodo validates the DCV file from the following IP addresses: 

     Important:

     Comodo uses these IP addresses to attempt to access the cPanel server. You must whitelist these IPs in the server firewall. For more information, read our  How to Configure Your Firewall for cPanel Services  documentation.

     178.255.81.12
     178.255.81.13
     91.199.212.132
     199.66.201.132

5. The system logs the Comodo requests in the /usr/local/cpanel/logs/access_logs file. It also contains user agent strings that show who accesses the DCV file. These user agent strings resemble the following examples:

   • cPanel user agent strings
   • Comodo user agent strings

   192.0.2.102 - - [16/Jun/2016:16:16:16 -0500]  "GET /4221C402112E4831C72C2E004614C47C.txt HTTP/1.1" 200 53  "-" "Cpanel-HTTP-Client/1.0"
   192.0.2.102 - - [16/Jun/2016:16:16:16 -0500]  "GET /4221C402112E4831C72C2E004614C47C.txt HTTP/1.1" 200 53  "-" "Cpanel-HTTP-Client/1.0"

   199.66.201.132 - - [16/Jun/2016:16:18:46 +0000]  "GET /4F571E4CB76F46E37B8118CEA1DB42BA.txt HTTP/1.1" 200 53  "-" "COMODO DCV"
   199.66.201.132 - - [16/May/2016:16:18:46 +0000]  "GET /4F571E4CB76F46E37B8118CEA1DB42BA.txt HTTP/1.1" 200 53  "-" "COMODO DCV"

Optional command line flags

The /usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts script includes the following optional flags:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/try-later --action '/usr/local/cpanel/bin/checkallsslcerts --no-retry' --check '/bin/sh -c exit 1' –delay 60 --max-retries 1 --skip-first

Disable a cPanel-signed hostname certificate.

To disable a cPanel-signed hostname certificate's installation, run the following command:

touch /var/cpanel/ssl/disable_service_certificate_management

Additional documentation