Encountering SSL Certificate Verification Error with npm Install

Other Questions NPM
1

Hello everyone!

I’ve been facing a frustrating issue while trying to install packages in my Node.js project using npm install. I keep getting this error:

npm ERR! RequestError: unable to get local issuer certificate
npm ERR! at ClientRequest.<anonymous> (file:///path/to/node_modules/got/dist/source/core/index.js:790:107)
npm ERR! at Object.onceWrapper (node:events:622:26)
npm ERR! at ClientRequest.emit (node:events:519:35)
npm ERR! at emitErrorEvent (node:_http_client:104:11)
npm ERR! at TLSSocket.socketErrorListener (node:_http_client:518:5)
npm ERR! at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:507:28)
npm ERR! at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:170:8)
npm ERR! at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:129:3)
npm ERR! at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:90:21)
npm ERR! at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap:1679:34)
npm ERR! at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:507:28)
npm ERR! at TLSSocket._finishInit (node:_tls_wrap:1078:8)
npm ERR! at ssl.onhandshakedone (node:_tls_wrap:864:12)

Context:
I’m working in a Node.js environment and have dependencies that I need to install. The RequestError is due to SSL/TLS certificate issues, preventing successful installation of packages.

Here’s what I’ve done to try and fix it:

  1. Disabling SSL Verification: Tried running NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 npm install, but it didn’t help.
  2. Proxy Settings: My setup might involve a proxy, so I checked and updated the proxy settings in the .npmrc file, but still encountered the error.
  3. Clear npm Cache: I executed npm cache clean --force, yet the problem persists.
  4. Using --legacy-peer-deps: Tried installing with the --legacy-peer-deps flag, but it also didn’t resolve my issue.
  5. Setting Custom CA Certificates: Attempted to use NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS to point to a custom CA certificate, but this didn’t solve the problem either.

Additional Details:

  • Node.js version is 23.10.0.
  • The error appears when attempting to download dependencies from the internet.
  • I suspect this might be linked to working in a corporate network due to the corporate proxy.

Help Needed:
Has anyone experienced this before? What solutions have worked to navigate SSL validation issues with npm and Node.js?

2

Corporate networks are such a pain for this. Switch to yarn instead of npm - it handles SSL differently and might get through. Also check if your company runs Zscaler or similar proxy software. They usually need specific configs to make node tools work.

3

Had this exact problem at my old job. Windows certificate store wasn’t accessible to Node.js. The win-ca package fixed it - it bridges Windows certificates and Node. Run npm install -g win-ca then add require('win-ca') at the top of your main file or create a .js file that imports it before running npm commands. Also update npm with npm install -g npm@latest since newer versions handle corporate SSL better. If you’re still stuck, ask IT for the exact proxy config including auth details - sometimes .npmrc needs their specific format.

4

I encountered a similar SSL issue while working behind a corporate firewall. The root of the problem was that our network was intercepting SSL traffic and replacing the certificates with its own. To resolve this, I reached out to our IT team for the corporate root certificate. After obtaining it, I configured npm to recognize that certificate using the command npm config set cafile /path/to/certificate.pem. As an alternative, if your company has an internal npm registry, consider using that to bypass SSL verification issues altogether. Avoid setting NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 as it compromises security. The certificate method is much more secure.