Blocked Access

[Joe_aka_WOL]

I have been getting more and more frequent instances of "Avast has blocked access to <whatever> because one of the issuers of the server certificate has expired".  The one that prompted me to join this forum and raise the subject is this morning's ...

"Avast has blocked access to https://browser-update.avast.com/ because one of the issuers of the server certificate has expired."

Is this a problem that I can overcome somehow?  If so, could someone please advise?

[bob3160]

The link you posted gives me a 404 error.

[Joe_aka_WOL]

Thanks for taking an initial look at this.  The 404 error makes the whole thing even more puzzling.

Almost all cases of "blocked access" pop-ups have arisen when I have followed a link on a webpage or just navigated to a new page.  A great many of them simply block an advertisement I wouldn't care about anyway but quite a number are very inconvenient.

This one, however, was different in that I was working on something else altogether and it popped up totally unexpectedly.

We therefore seem to have two separate issues here and perhaps we should be careful not to conflate them.

Firstly, why do I get a great many of these pop-ups when many of them are probably spurious.

Secondly, what would be trying to find that particular site other than some Avast software trying to update itself?

[bob3160]

Not puzzling at all. The website you listed doesn't exist.

[Joe_aka_WOL]

Of course I understand that error 404 means that the requested page cannot be found and that the most common reason for it not being found is that it does not exist.

Could you please address the two questions at the end of my previous posting?

[bob3160]

Of course I understand that error 404 means that the requested page cannot be found and that the most common reason for it not being found is that it does not exist.

Could you please address the two questions at the end of my previous posting?

Sorry, I can't answer the questions. I'm also not experiencing the problem.

[Asyn]

Firstly, why do I get a great many of these pop-ups when many of them are probably spurious.

Hi, probably related to: https://scotthelme.co.uk/lets-encrypt-old-root-expiration/

[Joe_aka_WOL]

Thanks, Asyn

That certainly looks like a plausible explanation for the sudden rise in popups of this general kind.  I presume that these will gradually become less common as server certificates are renewed.

The specific issue with browser-update.avast.com remains, however, and it is troubling as I have had seven instances in the last half-hour, so I'm afraid I need to return to the questions in my original posting, viz.:

Is this a problem that I can overcome somehow?  If so, could someone please advise?

[Asyn]

You're welcome.

[Joe_aka_WOL]

Does anyone actually have any idea how I can overcome the problem I have described?  Please!

[ondrejz]

Hi Joe, could you please open Avast Secure Browser, go to secure://about -> Diagnostic Information and copy paste versions of the browser, Antivirus and your OS? Thanks
That's just to be sure what versions are you using...

Regarding to the notification. It is displayed by Avast Antivirus and is about one of the endpoints we use in Secure Browser. However:
https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html#hostname=https://browser-update.avast.com/ does not show any problem related to SSL cert. expiration.

Maybe the problem could be on your computer or router.. Not sure. I suppose when you browse the internet there are no similar warnings. Don't you have any SW running that could be monitoring network traffic (except Antivirus)? THanks

[Joe_aka_WOL]

Sorry to be slow to reply to this, Ondrejz.

I think the data you are asking about is as follows:

AVAST Software
Copyright 2021 AVAST Software. All rights reserved.
Avast Secure Browser   49.0.79.76 (Official Build) (32-bit)
Revision   ffcbdee5af434fc89c0a1839ab1e4976239149ad
OS   Windows
Blink   537.36 (@0)
JavaScript   V8 4.9.385.28
Flash   (Disabled)
User Agent   Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/49.0.2623.75 Safer/49.0.79.76 Safari/537.36
Command Line   "C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Browser\Application\AvastBrowser.exe" --check-run=src=login --auto-launch-at-startup --profile-directory=Default
Executable Path   C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Browser\Application\AvastBrowser.exe
Profile Path   C:\Documents and Settings\W J Dowding\Local Settings\Application Data\AVAST Software\Browser\User Data\Default
Variations   16e0dd70-3f4a17df
b3888d8d-f9eb9ec4
74785582-3f4a17df
cf5ed6e1-3f4a17df
775ebbd7-3f4a17df
76b48ab8-a2567007
195ce1b5-d93a0620
9d315c2-ca7d8d80
93731dca-3f4a17df
1d3ad72e-3f4a17df
f5dd6118-2f5721af
f79cb77b-3d47f4f4
4ea303a6-3f4a17df
c8b9b12d-d93a0620
867c4c68-3f4a17df
6844d8aa-669a04e0
9f0ebdd7-3f4a17df
a70306ec-3f4a17df
Compiler   MSVC

The Operating system is Windows XP, Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 3.

As far as I am aware, there is nothing monitoring network traffic apart from Avast Antivirus and Windows Task Manager.