Connecting to Gmail through IMAP with PHP - SSL context failed

Asked 13/8, 2009 at 22:14 Answered 15/1, 2020 at 6:57

I'm trying to connect to Gmail through IMAP with PHP running in Apache. This is on an Ubuntu 9.04 system. I've got some sort of PHP configuration issue that is keeping this from working. First, here's what I did to setup IMAP for PHP:

sudo apt-get install libc-client2007b libc-client2007b-dev
sudo apt-get install php5-imap
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

When I run phpinfo(), I get the following imap values:

IMAP c-Client Version: 2004
SSL Support: enabled
Kerberos Support: enabled

Here's my sample code:

<?php
$connect_to = '{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX';
$user = 'my gmail address';
$password = 'my gmail password';

$connection = imap_open($connect_to, $user, $password)
  or die("Can't connect to '$connect_to': " . imap_last_error());

imap_close($connection);
?>

When I execute this code, I get the following output:

Warning: imap_open() [function.imap-open]: Couldn't open stream {imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX in /var/www/clint/gmail/gmail.php on line 10
Can't connect to '{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX': TLS/SSL failure for imap.gmail.com: SSL context failed

Note that I can telnet to imap.gmail.com:993 from this computer. I can also hookup Evolution (mail reader) to Gmail through IMAP and fetch mail without problems. So, I don't think this is a firewall issue. I'm pretty sure I've got something in PHP not setup correctly.

Any ideas?

Turgent answered 13/8, 2009 at 22:14 Comment(2)

NOTE: Author solved his problem in the discussion linked by Jordan, see groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.php/browse_thread/thread/… – Abrahan 23/8, 2009 at 13:6

@Clint: Please answer or edit your own question according to the solution you found – Abrahan 23/8, 2009 at 13:14

One more additional thing you need enabled in PHP, is the OpenSSL extension. It appears that the IMAP Client library (with SSL) depends on this.

It doesn't matter if Apache has the OpenSSL module enabled as this is processed/handled before the request is handed off to PHP.

The following discussion thread may help shed some light:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.php/browse_thread/thread/241e619bc70a8bf4/bd3ae0c6a82409bc?lnk=raot&pli=1

Qualified answered 17/8, 2009 at 21:24 Comment(1)

I am getting similar warnings. how you people solved it. OpenSSL is enabled on my server. – Moncada 13/9, 2013 at 8:52

This has worked for me after a long effort:

$ServerName = "{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert/norsh}Inbox";

Cristen answered 9/11, 2009 at 16:56 Comment(2)

Windows Ultimate x64, Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2.8: {imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX works. – Quality 29/12, 2010 at 5:20

Windows Vista x64, Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2.8: {imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX works. – Quality 29/12, 2010 at 5:21

I was facing same problem. I am using windows and wamp and my wamp "openSSl" extension is enabled.

I removed this issue by using following steps.I hope this will work for you too.

1) Logged in via browser to gmail account.

2) Open this url "https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps"

3) Click at "turn on"

4) try following code

<?php

set_time_limit(4000);


// Connect to gmail
//$imapPath = '{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl}INBOX';
$imapPath = '{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}INBOX';
$username = '[email protected]';
$password = 'Your-password';

// try to connect
$inbox = imap_open($imapPath,$username,$password) or die('Cannot connect to Gmail: ' . imap_last_error());
   /* ALL - return all messages matching the rest of the criteria
    ANSWERED - match messages with the \\ANSWERED flag set
    BCC "string" - match messages with "string" in the Bcc: field
    BEFORE "date" - match messages with Date: before "date"
    BODY "string" - match messages with "string" in the body of the message
    CC "string" - match messages with "string" in the Cc: field
    DELETED - match deleted messages
    FLAGGED - match messages with the \\FLAGGED (sometimes referred to as Important or Urgent) flag set
    FROM "string" - match messages with "string" in the From: field
    KEYWORD "string" - match messages with "string" as a keyword
    NEW - match new messages
    OLD - match old messages
    ON "date" - match messages with Date: matching "date"
    RECENT - match messages with the \\RECENT flag set
    SEEN - match messages that have been read (the \\SEEN flag is set)
    SINCE "date" - match messages with Date: after "date"
    SUBJECT "string" - match messages with "string" in the Subject:
    TEXT "string" - match messages with text "string"
    TO "string" - match messages with "string" in the To:
    UNANSWERED - match messages that have not been answered
    UNDELETED - match messages that are not deleted
    UNFLAGGED - match messages that are not flagged
    UNKEYWORD "string" - match messages that do not have the keyword "string"
    UNSEEN - match messages which have not been read yet*/

// search and get unseen emails, function will return email ids
$emails = imap_search($inbox,'UNSEEN');

$output = '';

foreach($emails as $mail) {

    $headerInfo = imap_headerinfo($inbox,$mail);

    $output .= $headerInfo->subject.'<br/>';
    $output .= $headerInfo->toaddress.'<br/>';
    $output .= $headerInfo->date.'<br/>';
    $output .= $headerInfo->fromaddress.'<br/>';
    $output .= $headerInfo->reply_toaddress.'<br/>';

    $emailStructure = imap_fetchstructure($inbox,$mail);
    //var_dump($emailStructure->parts);
    if(isset($emailStructure->parts)) {
         $output .= imap_body($inbox, $mail, FT_PEEK);
    } else {
        //    
    }
   echo $output;
   $output = '';
}

// colse the connection
imap_expunge($inbox);
imap_close($inbox);


?>

BEST OF LUCK. :)

Chryselephantine answered 27/5, 2016 at 8:28 Comment(2)

In case anyone else is wonder which of the answer really works. I tried this, and it worked. – Bresee 3/6, 2016 at 8:40

Open this url "google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps". This thing solved my issue. – Tran 22/12, 2016 at 4:31

had the same problem with personal domain on google apps. Problem was solved by changing application access to account. Simply follow by link and turn ON access to account.

Gayla answered 1/10, 2015 at 14:43 Comment(1)

worked for me, also using personal domain (Gmail for business) – Sourdine 2/5, 2016 at 8:47

Specific to Gmail's IMAP servers:

Google has started returning invalid certificates for TLSv13 connections which do not provide SNI hostname. This causes a regression when building php-imap extension against an upgraded OpenSSL (libssl) version. The issues have already been reported here:

The later is quite recent, and I've filed it to Ubuntu maintainers to make it visible to them and hopefully attract more eyes, since it affects Ubuntu Bionic which is a LTS version.

Please, vote and/or comment on them to give better visibility. Also remember: if you this answer useful and it is also upvoted enough, the above issues will get still more visibility.

In the meantime, looks like to me that the only workaround until the bug is fixed is to disable certificate validation by using the /novalidate-cert flag when calling imap_open(), which is a security risk.

Ironmaster answered 26/6, 2019 at 15:16 Comment(0)

Run your code from the command line and see if php spits our any other errors:

php -f gmail.php

On my Ubuntu I did:

sudo apt-get install php-imap

to install imap on php and the system installed: libc-client2007b mlock libc-client2007b mlock php-imap

Then how about uninstalling php5 and re-installing cleanly.

Pollack answered 16/8, 2009 at 18:15 Comment(0)

First, enable less secure apps in your Gmail account: https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps

Use this configuration to create IMAP connection:

$imap_connection = imap_open('{imap.gmail.com:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-
cert}INBOX', 'YOUR GMAIL USER', 'YOUR GMAIL PASSWORD');

Note: INBOX is your main imbox, for example you can acces to sent items with: INBOX.Sent in your connection.

Justen answered 26/5, 2017 at 21:39 Comment(0)

Check your setup with phpinfo() and ensure you see --with-imap-ssl listed.

Lombroso answered 14/8, 2009 at 19:20 Comment(3)

I'm not building PHP myself. I've installed it with apt-get. All the blogs I've read indicate that if I do "apt-get install php5-imap" then it will work. Maybe I have to give up on that approach and compile PHP myself. I'll try that tonight. – Turgent 14/8, 2009 at 21:42

checking phpinfo() will tell you if SSL is enabled. It sounds like it may no longer be included by default. – Lens 20/8, 2009 at 4:57

You should have openssl in phpinfo (I believe that is what IMAP is using): openssl OpenSSL support enabled OpenSSL Version OpenSSL 0.9.7i 14 Oct 2005 – Lens 20/8, 2009 at 4:59

If you're still having issues with this on gmail, make sure to enable "Allow access for less secure apps" in your google accounts security settings page.

Mazurka answered 22/9, 2015 at 13:19 Comment(2)

He was having ssl issues, 6 years ago, not login issues. – Cutback 24/9, 2015 at 4:32

i was having a similar problem recently and even after trying all d solutions listed here it wasn't until when i enabled "Allow access for less secure apps" in my google accounts security settings page that d issue was resolved – Mazurka 24/9, 2015 at 10:4

I am Arvind Gondaliya, You are right but if Less secure area off then to get gmail mail.

Sanatorium answered 15/1, 2020 at 6:57 Comment(0)

Hot tags

Godot Unity Godot Help Programming Godot 4.X GUI GDScript 3D 2D Physics CSharp Godot 3.X VR XR Projects C++

Recommended topics

Hot tags