TLS in NodeJS

UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE

When attempting to communicate with an HTTP server that has TLS enabled with a self-signed certificate, we will encounter an error UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE.

The error indicates a problem with an SSL/TLS certificate chain validation, usually in a Node.js environment or a system using a similar certificate store. The issue often arises when a server fails to provide a complete certificate chain, or when a client does not inherently trust a self-signed or internal intermediate certificate, such as those used in corporate proxies. In the case of GitHub Actions, the error UNABLE_TO_VERIFY_LEAF_SIGNATURE can happen if the process that runs the action doesn’t use the same CA bundle as the one extended with NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS, or if the action’s dependencies use another TLS stack. Installing the certificate in the runner’s system trust store makes every TLS client on that machine (including the NodeJS-based client) trust the remote server.

To install the CA certificate on the host machine on RHEL, Ubuntu or MacOS Keychain.