[Bug 676972] Re: pidgin does not connect to msn, certificate error

[Ross Ashley]

agent 8131's fix worked for me, except that I could not copy the two
.pem files into the ca-certs folder named there (as I am not sure of the
commands needed to copy them in as root.) So I ended up just putting the
omega.contacts.msn.com file into the
~/.purple/certificates/x509/tls_peers folder, replacing the old one, and
enabled msn messenger in pidgin again ... that is working for now. Knock
wood.

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pidgin does not connect to msn, certificate error
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/676972
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Status in Pidgin: New
Status in “pidgin” package in Ubuntu: Triaged

Bug description:
When attempting to connect to MSN, Pidgin fails to load the contact list, citing an issue with the SSL certificate of omega.contacts.msn.com. This happened due to Microsoft renewing both the omega.contacts.msn.com certificate, as well as their certification authority certificate "Microsoft Secure Server Authority". Hence, the certificate in /usr/share/purple/ca-certs/Microsoft_Secure_Server_Authority.pem is outdated.

In addition, the transition from the old to the new certificate is not complete, only half-done, so a simple workaround of updating the certificate would not work. Both the old and new certificates have to be included. Debdiffs for natty and maverick are attached.

TEST CASE:
1. Start Pidgin
2. Click Tools->Certificates
3. Delete the omega.contacts.msn.com certificate
4. Try connecting to a MSN messenger account
5. If it fails with "Unable to validate certificate", then this bug is present.