How to Log in to Websites with SSL Certificates and Cookies Using Curl?

How to Handle SSL Certificates and Cookies for Logins with Curl

Problem

Logging into a website like barnesandnoble.com using cURL can be challenging, especially when dealing with SSL certificates and cookies.

Solution

Obtaining Form Fields:

• Use the getFormFields() function to extract hidden input form fields required for login.

Building POST String:

• URL-encode parameters in the POST string (cURL does not do this automatically).
• Use http_build_query() to create the POST string from form fields.

Managing SSL Certificates:

• Set CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST to 0.
• Set CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER to false.

Managing Cookies:

• Use CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE and CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR to handle cookies.

Example Code:

The following code snippet demonstrates a successful login script:

<?php
// Options
$EMAIL = '[email protected]';
$PASSWORD = 'yourpassword';
$cookie_file_path = "/tmp/cookies.txt";
$LOGINURL = "https://cart2.barnesandnoble.com/mobileacct/op.asp?stage=signIn";
$agent = "Nokia-Communicator-WWW-Browser/2.0 (Geos 3.0 Nokia-9000i)";

// Begin Script
$ch = curl_init();

// Headers
$headers[] = "Accept: */*";
$headers[] = "Connection: Keep-Alive";

// Basic cURL Options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $agent);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE, $cookie_file_path);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR, $cookie_file_path);

// Get Form Fields
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $LOGINURL);
$content = curl_exec($ch);
$fields = getFormFields($content);
$fields['emailAddress'] = $EMAIL;
$fields['acctPassword'] = $PASSWORD;

// Get x Value
$x = '';
preg_match('/op\.asp\?x=(\d+)/i', $content, $match);
if (isset($match[1])) {
    $x = $match[1];
}

// Build POST String
$POSTFIELDS = http_build_query($fields);

// Change URL to Login URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://cart2.barnesandnoble.com/mobileacct/op.asp?x=$x");

// Set POST Options
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $POSTFIELDS);

// Perform Login
$result = curl_exec($ch);

print $result;

function getFormFields($data) {
    preg_match('/(<form action="op.*?<\/form>)/is', $data, $matches);
    if (isset($matches[1])) {
        return getInputs($matches[1]);
    } else {
        die('didnt find login form');
    }
}

function getInputs($form) {
    $inputs = array();
    preg_match_all('/(<input[^>]+>)/is', $form, $matches);
    foreach ($matches[1] as $el) {
        $el = preg_replace('/\s{2,}/', ' ', $el);
        preg_match('/name=(?:["\'])?([^"\'\s]*)/i', $el, $name);
        if (isset($name[1])) {
            $name = $name[1];
            $value = '';
            preg_match('/value=(?:["\'])?([^"\'\s]*)/i', $el, $value);
            if (isset($value[1])) {
                $value = $value[1];
            }
            $inputs[$name] = $value;
        }
    }
    return $inputs;
}

Additional Notes:

• Once cookies are established, you can create a new cURL object and specify the COOKIEFILE and COOKIEJAR to stay logged in.
• Curl can also be used for multiple actions and sending XML with headers.
• For more information and troubleshooting, refer to the provided external resources.

The above is the detailed content of How to Log in to Websites with SSL Certificates and Cookies Using Curl?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!