How do I accept a self-signed SSL certificate using iOS 7's NSURLSession

Question

I have the following code (swift implementation):

func connection(connection: NSURLConnection, canAuthenticateAgainstProtectionSpace protectionSpace: NSURLProtectionSpace) -> Bool
{
    return protectionSpace.authenticationMethod == NSURLAuthenticationMethodServerTrust
}

func connection(connection: NSURLConnection, didReceiveAuthenticationChallenge challenge: NSURLAuthenticationChallenge)
{
    if challenge.protectionSpace.authenticationMethod == NSURLAuthenticationMethodServerTrust
    {

        if challenge.protectionSpace.host == "myDomain"
        {
            let credentials = NSURLCredential(forTrust: challenge.protectionSpace.serverTrust)
            challenge.sender.useCredential(credentials, forAuthenticationChallenge: challenge)
        }
    }

    challenge.sender.continueWithoutCredentialForAuthenticationChallenge(challenge)

}

It works perfectly in iOS 8.x, but does not work iOS 7.x In iOS 7.x I have error:

NSURLConnection/CFURLConnection HTTP load failed (kCFStreamErrorDomainSSL, -9813)

Any idea? thank you!!!

Answer 1

Both connection:canAuthenticateAgainstProtectionSpace: and connection:didReceiveAuthenticationChallenge: are deprecated in iOS 8 anyway so you should use other methods.

What I am using in my projects is a delegate method of NSURLSessionDelegate. Adhere to that protocol then add this method:

func URLSession(session: NSURLSession, didReceiveChallenge challenge: NSURLAuthenticationChallenge, completionHandler: (NSURLSessionAuthChallengeDisposition, NSURLCredential!) -> Void) {
    completionHandler(NSURLSessionAuthChallengeDisposition.UseCredential, NSURLCredential(forTrust: challenge.protectionSpace.serverTrust))
}

Then, when you use initialize NSURLSession with delegate set to self. For example:

var session = NSURLSession(configuration: configuration, delegate: self, delegateQueue:NSOperationQueue.mainQueue())

Then use that session instance to call dataTaskWithRequest method on:

var task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request){
    (data: NSData!, response: NSURLResponse!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
    if error != nil {
        callback("", error.localizedDescription)
    } else {
        var result = NSString(data: data, encoding:
            NSASCIIStringEncoding)!
    }
}
task.resume()

Complete working example can be found here.

For security reasons, if you use a self-signed certificate I recommend also implementing public key pinning (https://gist.github.com/edwardmp/df8517aa9f1752e73353)

Answer 2

inherit class with URLSessionDelegate

create a session object

let config = URLSessionConfiguration.default


let session = Foundation.URLSession(configuration: config, delegate: self, delegateQueue: OperationQueue.main)


 let task = session.dataTask(with: httpRequest as URLRequest, completionHandler: {requestData, response, errorData -> Void in

            if errorData == nil {

                dataCallback(requestData! as NSData)
            }
            else {

                let error = NSError(domain: "Err-1001", code: 11, userInfo:nil)
                failureCallback(error)
            }
        });

        task.resume() 

Add delegate methad

func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask, didReceive     challenge: URLAuthenticationChallenge, completionHandler: @escaping (URLSession.AuthChallengeDisposition, URLCredential?) -> Void) {
     completionHandler(
        .useCredential,
        URLCredential(trust: challenge.protectionSpace.serverTrust!))
 }

add this in your info.plist file

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
    <key>NSExceptionDomains</key>
    <dict>
        <key>xyc.com</key>
        <dict>
            <key>NSIncludesSubdomains</key>
            <true/>
            <key>NSExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
            <true/>
            <key>NSExceptionRequiresForwardSecrecy</key>
            <true/>
            <key>NSExceptionMinimumTLSVersion</key>
            <string>TLSv1.2</string>
            <key>NSThirdPartyExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
            <false/>
            <key>NSThirdPartyExceptionRequiresForwardSecrecy</key>
            <true/>
            <key>NSThirdPartyExceptionMinimumTLSVersion</key>
            <string>TLSv1.2</string>
            <key>NSRequiresCertificateTransparency</key>
            <false/>
        </dict>
    </dict>
</dict>