SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED when submitting forms in Django run on Windows VPS with Apache web server
I have a Django website hosted on a VPS (OS Windows server 2019). The web server is Apache 2.4 and Python version is 3.12.8. A Digicert SSL certificate successfully installed and the website is working in production under https. However, I get this error when I try to submit a login or signup form from the website in production:
URLError at /login-page/
<urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1000)>
Here is the complete error traceback:
URLError at /login-page/
<urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1000)>
Request Method: POST
Request URL: https://www.mywebsite.com/login-page/
Django Version: 5.0.6
Exception Type: URLError
Exception Value: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1000)>
Exception Location: C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 1347, in do_open
Raised during: users_authentication.views._wrapped_view
Python Executable: C:\Apache24\bin\httpd.exe
Python Version: 3.12.8
Python Path: ['C:\\Apache24\\htdocs\\project',
'C:\\Python 3.12.8\\python312.zip',
'C:\\Python 3.12.8\\DLLs',
'C:\\Python 3.12.8\\Lib',
'C:\\Apache24\\bin',
'C:\\Python 3.12.8',
'C:\\Python 3.12.8\\Lib\\site-packages']
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 1344, in do_open
h.request(req.get_method(), req.selector, req.data, headers,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1336, in request
self._send_request(method, url, body, headers, encode_chunked)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1382, in _send_request
self.endheaders(body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1331, in endheaders
self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1091, in _send_output
self.send(msg)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1035, in send
self.connect()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\http\client.py, line 1477, in connect
self.sock = self._context.wrap_socket(self.sock,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\ssl.py, line 455, in wrap_socket
return self.sslsocket_class._create(
…
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\ssl.py, line 1041, in _create
self.do_handshake()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\ssl.py, line 1319, in do_handshake
self._sslobj.do_handshake()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
During handling of the above exception ([SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1000)), another exception occurred:
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\core\handlers\exception.py, line 55, in inner
response = get_response(request)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\core\handlers\base.py, line 197, in _get_response
response = wrapped_callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Apache24\htdocs\project\users_authentication\views.py, line 48, in _wrapped_view
return view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Apache24\htdocs\project\users_authentication\views.py, line 142, in login_vf
if form.is_valid():
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py, line 197, in is_valid
return self.is_bound and not self.errors
^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py, line 192, in errors
self.full_clean()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py, line 327, in full_clean
self._clean_fields()
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\forms\forms.py, line 339, in _clean_fields
value = field.clean(value)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django\forms\fields.py, line 205, in clean
self.validate(value)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django_recaptcha\fields.py, line 69, in validate
check_captcha = client.submit(
…
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django_recaptcha\client.py, line 64, in submit
response = recaptcha_request(params)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\site-packages\django_recaptcha\client.py, line 39, in recaptcha_request
return opener.open(
…
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 515, in open
response = self._open(req, data)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 532, in _open
result = self._call_chain(self.handle_open, protocol, protocol +
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 492, in _call_chain
result = func(*args)
^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 1392, in https_open
return self.do_open(http.client.HTTPSConnection, req,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
C:\Python 3.12.8\Lib\urllib\request.py, line 1347, in do_open
raise URLError(err)
Below is what my login html page look like:
<form method="POST">
{% csrf_token %}
<fieldset>
<legend >Login</legend>
{{form|crispy}}
</fieldset>
<div class="form-group mt-5">
<button type="submit">Login</button>
</div>
</form>
Below is the form from the project's app:
class LoginForm(forms.Form):
email = forms.EmailField()
password = forms.CharField(widget=forms.PasswordInput)
captcha = ReCaptchaField(widget=CustomReCaptchaV2Checkbox())
I have unsuccesfuly explored multiple solutions proposed by previous threads with similar error:
pip install pip-system-certs
pip install certifi
python -m pip install pip-system-certs --use-feature=truststore
I also set REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE in the environment variable.