SSL protocol problems

[Jefez]

My problem is as the title suggests--though I still don't know if it is actually the problem--specifically that because of it I'm having trouble connecting to services by Rockstar games

Connection from their launcher is sadly also borked

 

Though when I accessed the address for their support page from my phone (from the same home network), the page loads. So I suspect that it's a problem from my PC, though I don't know where, exactly

 

Methods I have tried (that I know of) but to no avail:

• Restarting both router and PC
• Using a DNS resolver (Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1)
• Using a VPN
• Clearing SSL state
• Resetting my network settings from Windows
• Uninstalled Windows updates that I thought were interfering

All other webpages work normally with my current connection, only the ones from Rockstar fails to even connect

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

In picture: Rockstar Games Launcher (above), Rockstar Games support page from Chrome (below)

[Bombastinator]

My memory is ssl was deprecated years ago.  It’s something else now

[mariushm]

Make sure the date on your router and on your computer is configured correctly. 

Yeah, bad computer time can cause encryption to fail. 

 

If date/time is wrong, one possible reason could be the battery on your motherboard is dead and must be replaced... but that's rare, usually such battery lasts 5-10 years, because while computer is plugged in, the power supply's 5v stand-by powers the circuit instead of the battery.

[SupaKomputa]

12 minutes ago, mariushm said:

If date/time is wrong, one possible reason could be the battery on your motherboard is dead and must be replaced... but that's rare, usually such battery lasts 5-10 years, because while computer is plugged in, the power supply's 5v stand-by powers the circuit instead of the battery.

Even if youre MB battery dead, windows usually will auto sync the time based on the timezone, this is default, unless you turn it off.

 

Rockstar actively banned IP address for illegal activity, try the free account from protonvpn, it worked for me in the past.

[Eigenvektor]

59 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

My memory is ssl was deprecated years ago.  It’s something else now

You mean TLS. The error code simply still says SSL for backwards compatibility. If you visit the page you can see they're using TLS 1.2 which is recent and should be supported by any modern browser.

 

Of course it could always be OP is using an old browser that doesn't support TLS 1.2.

[Bombastinator]

44 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

You mean TLS. The error code simply still says SSL for backwards compatibility. If you visit the page you can see they're using TLS 1.2 which is recent and should be supported by any modern browser.

 

Of course it could always be OP is using an old browser that doesn't support TLS 1.2.

Yes.  Tls

[Jefez]

9 hours ago, mariushm said:

Make sure the date on your router and on your computer is configured correctly. 

Yeah, bad computer time can cause encryption to fail. 

 

If date/time is wrong, one possible reason could be the battery on your motherboard is dead and must be replaced... but that's rare, usually such battery lasts 5-10 years, because while computer is plugged in, the power supply's 5v stand-by powers the circuit instead of the battery.

Time & date both on router and computer are all correct to my timezone, and the CMOS battery is still fine, so I don't think the problem's there
Even if so, if it was a time & date issue, I shouldn't have the ability to access all websites, not just Rockstar's

8 hours ago, SupaKomputa said:

Rockstar actively banned IP address for illegal activity, try the free account from protonvpn, it worked for me in the past.

Nope, doesn't work. I also tried that, thinking that my earlier VPN wasn't "VPN-ing" properly, but it's still the same with Proton
If I was actually banned, wouldn't it be I just become unable to access their games online, rather than banning me entirely even from their support page..?

8 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

Of course it could always be OP is using an old browser that doesn't support TLS 1.2.

I am using the newest available version of Chrome, though since it affects Rockstar's Game Launcher too, I suspect it's entirely between their servers and my computer. My phone works fine when I go to their support page

 

And to add, another methods that I have tried are 1) resetting my network settings in windows, and 2) uninstalled windows updates that I thought might have been the problem

Both are still to no avail, sadly

[TomChaai]

First of all what OS are you using? This issue usually happens on old OSes that don't support current SSL.

Second check name resolution of the impacted sites, see if DNS is actually resolving to the correct servers.

Then see if your browser was trying to contact a proxy before connecting to the actual site. Check system and browser proxy settings.

Then find out if there are MITM attacks in IP level, use wireshark to check the TCP then HTTPS handshake process to see exactly what went wrong.

[Jefez]

I tried to search for the error one more time on the web, and one of the pages I encountered told me to delete a file from this directory...

The file was named 'hosts', and then I tried to delete it.

After that, things magically worked again! Somehow...

Thank you for all of those who replied and tried to help  Best of days to you guys

[Jarsky]

If you had SSL errors, and you had to delete the hosts file, then its most likely your computer got infected with some sort of Malware. 

It probably had static entries redirecting you for a MitM attack, hence the SSL errors. 

 

I'd recommend checking your DNS settings to make sure they havent been changed manually either to some unknown DNS server. 

Make sure this is on Obtain automatically, or if you specified manual DNS, make sure its pointing to the servers you entered

 

Also click on 'Advanced...' and go to DNS and make sure there arent any servers specified in the first box

 

 

I assume you're using Windows built in Microsoft Defender.

I'd strongly recommend scanning your machine with a 3rd party tool as well such as MalwareBytes or Spybot Search & Destroy. 

To make sure theres no further traces of whatever infected your machine to modify the hosts file.