Question

Reversing Self-signed SSL Certificate

Posted November 11, 2016 21.4k views
ApacheUbuntu 16.04

Hello -

I have used this article [https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate-for-apache-in-ubuntu-16-04](http://) to get my Ubuntu 16.04 server set up for SSL. I am going to use a security company that asks me to remove any existing SSL certificates and set-up. I was wondering the steps I need to take to reverse the above tutorial.

Thanks!

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castera
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castera
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  • meemah212 February 15, 2017
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    I got a paper that said if I wanted to self certify to sign it and return it in the enclosed envelope. I signed it before I completely read the enclosed info on it and realized I didn’t want to self certify. I had this option because I live with my patient. What do I do to reverse this action ? Please someone help me

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2 answers
JamesJ November 14, 2016

Hey there,

If you follow the reverse of that tutorial, and just do the opposite (so removing) it should work.

If you comment out / delete the following from your virtual hosts file

SSLEngine on

                SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
                SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key

Or whatever you’ve named the files (I’ve just copied it from that tutorial!), once it’s working you can delete those files:

rm /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
rm /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key

Hope this helps,

  • James
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castera November 14, 2016

Thanks for the response, James.

I also found these commands helpful in disabling SSL.

sudo a2dismod ssl
sudo a2dissite default-ssl
sudo service apache2 restart

And follow the prompts from the command line.

I didn’t adjust the firewall settings as I wouldn’t think it would be a bad thing to leave the option for SSL traffic.

If I’m missing something, I’m open to suggestions. As of right now, it appears to have worked.

Thanks!

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  • calvinwhitehurst June 24, 2018

    A word of caution to anyone before running these commands, depending on what’s still in your virtual hosts file these commands may cause your apache2 to not be able to restart. It took me a while to figure out what commands to use to undo this and my site was unable to connect during this time.

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