513722 - can't add exception for expired certificate

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: Security, defect)

Description

[Jacob Balazer]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090729 Firefox/3.5.2 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090729 Firefox/3.5.2 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

I browsed to a site that had a recently expired security certificate.  Firefox told me that the connection could not be trusted, saying that the certificate expired.  

I told Firefox that I understood the risks, and I wanted to add an exception.  I told it to get the certificate, but then under Certificate Status, it said the certificate was valid, and wouldn't allow me to confirm the security exception.

Restarting Firefox fixed the problem.  When the problem was occurring, I believe the certificate expired after I started that Firefox session.  So this might be an issue of Firefox using cached certificate information in one place and not in another.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Browse to site with recently expired certificate
2.  Click "I know the risks"
3.  click "add exception"
4.  click "get certificate"

Actual Results:  
Mozilla says the certificate is valid, and the "confirm security exception" button is ghosted.

Expected Results:  
Mozilla should have let me create the security exception.

Comment 1

[Fred Wells]

I have this problem also intermittently with self-signed certs at our organization.  When I accept the risk and click "Get certificate", I'm prompted only to view the cert or cancel.  Neither choice allows me to add the exception.  Instead, the exception dialog buttons remain ghosted.  If I download the CA cert separately and add it manually through the Tools -> Options -> Advanced dialog, I can then access the site.

Comment 2

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Does the issue still occur if you start Firefox in Safe Mode? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode

How about with a new, empty profile? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic+Troubleshooting#Make_a_new_profile

Does the issue occur with the latest nightly? http://nightly.mozilla.org/

Comment 3

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Closing bug as Incomplete - if you are still experiencing this issue or have more information to provide feel free to post back here and we can re-open the bug. You can also get assistance by visiting the Firefox help site -> http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Ask+a+question