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&#160;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.

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