You can face an error ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID also known as Your connection is not private. You may face this error on your website or someone else website.
Here is a quick guide to solving this issue. In this guide, you will learn that, how can you eradicate any problem that is causing this issue on your website.
The “your link is not private” error just relates to websites that are working over HTTPS (or should run over HTTPS). Whenever you check out a site, your web browser sends a petition to the server in which the website is hosted. The internet browser then must validate the certificate placed on the website to make sure it’s as much as modern privacy standards. Other activities that also occur are the TLS handshake, the certification being checked against the certificate authority, then decryption of the certification.
If the web browser discovers the certificate is not valid, it’ll instantly attempt to stop you from reaching the website. This function is assembled into web browsers to safeguard the user. If the certification is not put together properly, meaning information cannot be encrypted, therefore, and adequately, the website is harmful to visit (especially those with logins and that method payment info). Rather than loading the site, it is going to deliver an error message, like “your connection is not private.”
- How does ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID show up in Firefox?
- Why does “Your connection is not private” error occur?
- SAN Certificates
- Solving “ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID” (As a User)
- Solve “Your connection is not private” error (As a Website Owner)
How does ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID show up in Firefox?

In Mozilla Firefox the error message differs somewhat, and rather than “your connection isn’t private” you will observe “your connection is not secure” The proprietor of domain.com has set up their site improperly. To safeguard the info of yours from being taken, Firefox hasn’t attached it to this particular site.
Why does “Your connection is not private” error occur?
A typical brand mismatch error occurs when the URL the SSL certificate is placed on is not mentioned on the certificate (either as the common name, subject alternative name, or even protected by a wildcard).
Along with these likely factors behind “NET: ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID” errors, you will find various other reasons this particular note can pop up, like a misconfigured redirect.
SAN Certificates
Subject alternative names also known as SAN certificates, talk about certificates that address various other domains besides the URL that’s mentioned as the common name. For example:
- Common name: yoursite.com
- SAN one: mail.yoursite.com
- SAN two: www.yoursite.org
- SAN three: mysite.com
A wildcard is a certification which protects each of the subdomains at a specified amount within the standard name domain. Common names for wildcard certificates make use of an asterisk to establish the infinite amount and are formatted as such – *.yoursite.com. A wildCard for *.yoursite.com would discuss some subdomain at that level: blog.yoursite.com, live.yoursite.com, mail.yoursite.com, etc.
Solving “ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID” (As a User)
There are many practices that you can follow to solve this issue in your browser. Most probably it is caused because of the misconfiguration from the website owner, so if this is the case, then you will not be able to fix it unless you are the owner of the website.
Reload the Page
Sometimes, this is a temporary error and goes away after reloading the page. So, the first thing you can do is refresh the page.
This may look just a little apparent to some. Still, one of the first and easiest things you need to use when encountering a “your connection is not private” mistake is usually just to close and reopen the internet browser of yours and also try out loading the page once again. It might be that the site owner is right now reissuing their SSL certificate or maybe one thing was out of control in the internet browser of yours.
Manually Allow (with risk)
The second option is to only manually allowing. Nevertheless, we do not suggest doing this unless you completely understand that nothing would be encrypted whether you move. When you are likely to be entering payment or perhaps login credentials details, by all means, skip to the subsequent steps below.
We include this choice, so we can describe the full ramifications of accomplishing this. Seeing this mistake might correctly mean that someone is attempting to trick you or even steal some information you send on the server, and you need to close the website instantly typically. It’s also likely that the site has been compromised and there’s a malicious redirection. If you are inside a public place, never ever attempt to avoid the screen.
In case you still wish to move forward, there’s often a “Proceed to domain.com” link you are able to just click at the bottom part of the error screen. Based on the internet browser this is often hidden under the “Advanced” option. Note: If the site is employing HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) this alternative will not be for sale since it implies they’ve applied an HTTP header that never allows non HTTPS connections.
Check your device Clock
Yet another quite typical reason why you may envision the “your link is not private” mistake is your computer’s clock is messed up. Browsers depend on these to be correctly synced up to confirm the SSL certificate. This could quickly happen if you bought a new computer, particularly laptops on WiFi just for the first time. They do not usually sync up immediately after your very first login. Below are the measures to upgrade time on the pc of yours.
Solve “Your connection is not private” error (As a Website Owner)
This is an alarming situation and can cause a lot of loss in business if your website goes down. You have to solve this issue immediately. These are some methods that you can use to resolve this issue.
Check Redirects
Determine whether your internet browser is forcefully redirecting site visitors to another model of the site of yours. If it’s, then you must adjust the settings of yours to eradicate the redirect. If the redirect is needed, you might have to get another certificate to coat the domain you’re redirecting website traffic to.
You will also need to check whether you are forcing visitors through a WWW or maybe a non-WWW model of the domain. This Is crucial because only some SSL certificates cover both the WWW along with non-WWW variations of a site by default; you are going to need to verify the certification you’ve blankets whichever variety of the domain name your site defaults to.
Does your site have valid SSL?
This Is probably the most frequent reason the “NET: ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID” error occurs. If the domain name a certificate is placed on is not protected by the cert, there’s a mismatch between the domain as well as the certificate.
The simplest way to check out whether this is inspecting the certification and examine the “issued to ” domain info on the domain name the certification is installed on. Nevertheless, in the situation of SAN and wildcard certificates, as stated above, you will have to furthermore look at the listing of SANs on the certificate (or maybe check to find out whether the domain name the certification is fitted under qualifies as covered under the wildcard).
Check SSL Certificate with Tool
In case you are unsure if things are put together properly on your someone or site else’s, you can continually operate an SSL server test. SSL/TLS certificates demand not just your original certificate but additionally whatever they call intermediate certificates (chain) to be also fitted. When you do not have these appropriately installed, visitors might have a warning in the browsers of theirs, which could drive them out, and based on the internet browser and also variation, you might or might not notice the warning when your certification is set up incorrectly.
We suggest using the free SSL check tool from Qualys SSL Labs. It is exceptionally dependable, and we put it to use for most Kinsta clients when verifying certificates. Just head over to their SSL check application, input the domain name of yours into the Hostname field, and simply click on “Submit.” You can choose the choice furthermore to cover public results in case you want. The scan may take a second or two though it is going to show you all the fine details about a site’s SSL/TLS configuration.
Conclusion
Here is a simple guide to solve the ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID or the error is also known as “Your connection is not Private”. You can apply the fixes from the (as a user) section if you are facing this error while browsing someone else website. But if you are the owner of the site, you have to see the solutions mentioned in the 2nd section. If the problem persists, comment with the error, and we will try to answer that ASAP.
WordPress Updates
Security Checks
Daily Cloud Backups
Speed Optimization
Premium Plugins
Developer Consultation