Node.js https pem error: routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line

Question

I am messing with login form right now with node.js, I tried creating a pem key and csr using

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -new -nodes -keyout key.pem -out csr.pem

However I been getting errors for running node server.js

Here is my server.js

var http = require('http'),
    express = require('express'),
UserServer = require('./lib/user-server');

var https = require('https');
var fs = require('fs');

var options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('./key.pem', 'utf8'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('./csr.pem', 'utf8')
};

var app = express();

app.configure(function(){
  app.use(express.bodyParser());
  app.use(app.router);
  app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
});

var httpserver = http.createServer(app).listen('3004', '127.0.0.1');
var https_server = https.createServer(options, app).listen('3005', '127.0.0.1');
UserServer.listen(https_server);

Here is the error

crypto.js:104
  if (options.cert) c.context.setCert(options.cert);
                          ^
Error: error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line
    at Object.exports.createCredentials (crypto.js:104:31)
    at Server (tls.js:1107:28)
    at new Server (https.js:35:14)
    at Object.exports.createServer (https.js:54:10)

I tried running

openssl x509 -text -inform DER -in key.pem

It gives

unable to load certificate
140735208206812:error:0D0680A8:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_CHECK_TLEN:wrong tag:tasn_dec.c:1319:
140735208206812:error:0D07803A:asn1 encoding routines:ASN1_ITEM_EX_D2I:nested asn1 error:tasn_dec.c:381:Type=X509

I am not exactly sure what does the error mean as my encryption file is .pem file already, so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

You are probably using the wrong certificate file, what you need to do is generate a self signed certificate which can be done as follows

openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -new -nodes -keyout key.pem -out csr.pem
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in csr.pem -signkey key.pem -out server.crt

then use the server.crt

   var options = {
      key: fs.readFileSync('./csr.pem', 'utf8'),
      cert: fs.readFileSync('./server.crt', 'utf8')
   };

Answer 2

Was facing the same problem In my case I changed the option parameter of cert to pfx & removed utf8 encoding.

before:

var options = {
    hostname : 'localhost',
    path : '/',
    method : 'POST',
    cert: fs.readFileSync(testCert, 'utf8'),
    passphrase:passphrase,
    agent:false,
    rejectUnauthorized:false
};

after:

var options = {
    hostname : 'localhost',
    path : '/',
    method : 'POST',
    pfx: fs.readFileSync(testCert),
    passphrase:passphrase,
    agent:false,
    rejectUnauthorized:false
};

Answer 3

I removed this error by write the following code

Open Terminal

1. openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -new -nodes -keyout key.pem -out csr.pem

2. openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in csr.pem -signkey key.pem -out server.crt

Now use the server.crt and key.pem file

app.js or server.js file

var https = require('https');
var https_options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('key.pem', 'utf8'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('server.crt', 'utf8')
};

var server = https.createServer(https_options, app).listen(PORT);
console.log('HTTPS Server listening on %s:%s', HOST, PORT);

It works but the certificate is not trusted. You can view the image in image file.

Answer 4

I guess this is because your nodejs cert has expired. Type this line :
npm set registry http://registry.npmjs.org/
and after that try again with npm install . This actually solved my problem.

Answer 5

For me the issues was I had the key and cert swapped.

var options = {
   key: fs.readFileSync('/etc/letsencrypt/live/mysite.com/privkey.pem'),
   cert: fs.readFileSync('/etc/letsencrypt/live/mysite.com/fullchain.pem'),
   ca: fs.readFileSync('/etc/letsencrypt/live/mysite.com/chain.pem')
};

Answer 6

If you are using windows, you should make sure that the certificate file csr.pem and key.pem don't have unix-style line endings. Openssl will generate the key files with unix style line endings. You can convert these files to dos format using a utility like unix2dos or a text editor like notepad++

Answer 7

If you log the

var options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('./key.pem', 'utf8'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('./csr.pem', 'utf8')
};

You might notice there are invalid characters due to improper encoding.

Answer 8

I actually just had this same error message.

The problem was I had key and cert files swapped in the configuration object.

Answer 9

Generate the private key and server certificate with specific expiry date or with infinite(XXX) expiry time and self sign it.

$ openssl req -x509 -sha256 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days XXX

$ Enter a private key passphrase...`

Then it will work!