Can Motherboards or CPUs cause SSL Errors?

[fishpaste]

Okay, this is probably a weird question, but I'm kind of at a loss. I can't connect to many websites in many pieces of software, such as bing.com, although other websites work fine.

The weird thing is, this issue persists on a clean install of both Windows and any Linux distro, but only onto this PC. If I install the same Windows or Linux distro on my other PC, I can connect to all websites just fine. But on the other PC, it is consistent across any OS. I know it's not an issue with the WiFi dongle because, again, that same dongle used in the other PC doesn't give issues. Can't be a router issue because I have tons of devices and none have this problem connecting to random websites. Not an issue with the drives, either, because booting from a different drive causes the same issue.

It does seem to be partially a software problem because some programs will connect to websites just fine. I can connect to bing.com in Firefox but not in Chromium.  WGET can't access many websites either, and the version of GIT that comes with Ubuntu 20.04 can't even clone github but the version on Ubuntu 21.04 can.

I Google it and it doesn't seem like anybody on the planet is experiencing these same problems as I am, and on all my PCs, the problems only occur on a very specific PC, and the only thing I haven't changed out is the motherboard and the CPU, and it's an incredibly strange motherboard and CPU which makes it suspect.

But I'm not sure how the motherboard or CPU could affect SSL. The websites I can't connect to all give various SSL errors. It is kinda funny to install Windows, open up Edge, and then Microsoft's own default page throws an error and can't load.

Is it possible my CPU or mobo could be at fault here? Could they have some sort of affect on secure connections? I really have no idea what could be culprit since I have never encountered this issue before and fresh installs of OS's don't fix it which makes me think it's at least partially a hardware issue, and since I have a very strange and abnormal motherboard and CPU from the KX-6000 series I thought maybe there is some weird incompatibility. It seems to be very specific to this PC as well and affects no other devices on my network, which seems to imply it is a hardware fault specific to the PC.

I really know nothing about SSL, can a hardware fault prevent a machine from making secure connections to some websites?

Sorry if this is a silly question, I'm no computer expert and have been trying to figure this out for weeks and have no idea what is going on.

[BC_Programmer]

1. What do you mean by "Can't connect"? Do you see an error message?

2. If the error message is complaining about the SSL certificate, what does it say about it?

[fishpaste]

1. What do you mean by "Can't connect"? Do you see an error message?

Yes.

2. If the error message is complaining about the SSL certificate, what does it say about it?

It says something different depending on the program trying to connect to the internet.
Chromium would say:

ERROR:ssl_client_socket_impl_cc(981)] handshake failed; returned -1, SSL error code 1, net_error -107

WGET would say:

Code: [Select]

Connecting to login_live_com (login_live_com)|40_126_24_149|:443… connected.
OpenSSL: error:1012606B:elliptic curve routines:EC_POINT_set_affine_coordinates:point is not on curve
OpenSSL: error:100AF010:elliptic curve routines:ec_group_new_from_data:EC lib
OpenSSL: error:100AE081:elliptic curve routines:EC_GROUP_new_by_curve_name:unknown group
OpenSSL: error:100C508D:elliptic curve routines:pkey_ec_ctrl:invalid curve
OpenSSL: error:141A413A:SSL routines:tls_process_ske_ecdhe:unable to find ecdh parameters
Unable to establish SSL connection.

[patio]

Is the time and date correct on the PC ? ?

[fishpaste]

Is the time and date correct on the PC ? ?

It is set right in the OS but it does seem a few hours off in the BIOS. Weird thing is I can't seem to change it. If I set it to the correct hour and reboot it goes back to being a few hours off. I don't think it's a battery problem because if I set the right hour and then boot without power cycling the machine I still get the SSL errors.

[fishpaste]

Update: After setting the time correct in the BIOS and running hwclock in Linux, it does report the correct time, date, and timezone. So I don't think incorrect time and date is the problem.

[BC_Programmer]

The errors suggest out-dated OpenSSL libs being used by the affected programs.

The errors are complaining about errors working with the certificate data, as OpenSSL attempts to verify it. They are very low-level errors, too, which makes them unusual. From your original post I expected the errors were errors within the browser about the certificate not being valid, but it seems like it isn't even getting that far and is failing outright while trying to work with the certificate data.

Everything I can find about the errors suggest it's a rather low-level error. The only relationship I can fathom between the cryptography functions and the motherboard/CPU is if the system in question has a TPM and some cryptography functions attempt to use it, but it doesn't work properly or as expected, but I can't find anything about that. You could check the BIOS settings and disable TPM if present and see if the issues go away just to eliminate  that as a cause. Basically from what I can find, whether OpenSSL will or will not use a TPM depends on certain 'engines" being installed and those engines are enabled by the programs using OpenSSL, which could explain why you are getting different behaviour on the affected machine.

Side Note: if memory serves, Linux will always store time in the CMOS in UTC, and adjusts it for the time zone, which is probably why what you were seeing was a few hours off.

[fishpaste]

The errors suggest out-dated OpenSSL libs being used by the affected programs.

The errors are complaining about errors working with the certificate data, as OpenSSL attempts to verify it. They are very low-level errors, too, which makes them unusual. From your original post I expected the errors were errors within the browser about the certificate not being valid, but it seems like it isn't even getting that far and is failing outright while trying to work with the certificate data.

Everything I can find about the errors suggest it's a rather low-level error. The only relationship I can fathom between the cryptography functions and the motherboard/CPU is if the system in question has a TPM and some cryptography functions attempt to use it, but it doesn't work properly or as expected, but I can't find anything about that. You could check the BIOS settings and disable TPM if present and see if the issues go away just to eliminate  that as a cause. Basically from what I can find, whether OpenSSL will or will not use a TPM depends on certain 'engines" being installed and those engines are enabled by the programs using OpenSSL, which could explain why you are getting different behaviour on the affected machine.

Side Note: if memory serves, Linux will always store time in the CMOS in UTC, and adjusts it for the time zone, which is probably why what you were seeing was a few hours off.

I checked and don't see anything about TPM in the BIOS and when I grep dmesg it says TPM not found.