How to Solve – PostFix/SMTP: Certificate Verification Failed, Untrusted Issuer

Here’s another email post for you guys!

One of my clients moved their hosting to a brand new server recently (MediaTemple) and were unable to receive emails to their Office 365 / Outlook 365 when they were sent from this new web server.

First things first — check the logs, located at…

/usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog

If you see an error message along the lines of postfix/smtp: certificate verification failed … Untrusted Issuer, then this article may be for you!

We then use the steps that were outlined here.

However, you may not have a SSL directory. If you don’t, then navigate simply to…

/etc/postfix/

And instead of using the cacert.pem file, use the postfix_default.pem

With this in mind, I will reiterate what the steps are.

Step 1) Backup your existing PEM file (it may be cacert.pem if you have a SSL folder, or postfix_default.pem in /etc/postfix/ in my case):

cd /etc/postfix
cp postfix_default.pem postfix_default.pem.bak

Step 2) Create a Equifax_Secure_CA.pem file using your favorite editor (I like nano) and paste the following in:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Step 3) Create a Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem file with these contents:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Step 4) Merge those bad boys into your existing PEM file:

cat /etc/postfix/Equifax_Secure_CA.pem >> /etc/postfix/postfix_default.pem
echo >> /etc/postfix/postfix_default.pem
cat /etc/postfix/Thawte_Premium_Server_CA.pem >> /etc/postfix/postfix_default.pem

Step 5) Restart Postfix:

service Postfix restart

Oh boy! That was fun, huh? Gotta love email trouble.

Note: It’s better to use your own certificates rather than the ones listed here. Just FYI.

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