PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - Version 2.04, by Dr. Herong Yang
Viewing Server Certificate in Firefox 35
This section provides a tutorial example on how to view certificate when visiting an 'https' Web site in Firefox 35.
When you visit a "https" Web server, it will send its certificate to your browser. Server's certificate is needed by the browser for these 2 tasks:
- Your browser must validate the certificate to determine that the Web site can be trusted or not before doing any further communications.
- Your browser must use the public key in the certificate to help secure the communication messages sent and received.
Normally, your browser will do these 2 tasks automatically without your interaction. You don't need to know where is the server certificate and what's in the certificate.
But since I am interested to learn more about "https" communication, I want to see the server certificate. Here is what did on Firefox 35 to see details of the server certificate.
1. Run Firefox 35 and go to https://login.yahoo.com and wait for the log in page to be displayed.
2. Click the lock icon at right side of the web address. The page security information message box shows up:
You are connected to yahoo.com Verified by: VeriSign, Inc. The connection to this website is secure.
3. Click the "More Information..." button on the message box. The Page Info dialog box shows up displaying the "Security" tab.
4. Click the "View Certificate" button. The Certificate Viewer dialog box shows up.
Cool. Now I see a real server certificate for commercial uses. The picture below shows you steps to see the certificate:
Last update: 2015.
Table of Contents
Introduction of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
Using HTTPS with IE (Internet Explorer) 10
Visiting "https" Web Site with Firefox 35
►Viewing Server Certificate in Firefox 35
Server Certificate General Information
Viewing Server Certificate Path in Firefox 35
Exporting Server Certificate to File in Firefox 35
Viewing Pre-Installed Certificates in Firefox 35
Listing of Trusted Root CA in Firefox 35
Exporting Certificate to File from Firefox 35
Deleting Root CA Certificates from Firefox 35
Firefox 35 Displaying Certificate Error Page
Adding Security Exception in Firefox 35
Failing to Import Root CA Certificates to Firefox 35
Certificate Trust Settings in Firefox 35
Perl Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
PHP Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
Java Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
Certificate Stores and Certificate Console
.NET Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
CAcert.org - Root CA Offering Free Certificates
PKI CA Administration - Issuing Certificates
Digital Signature - Microsoft Word 2007
Digital Signature - OpenOffice.org 3