Mac OS X Lion Update 10.7.4 Renders SSL Secured Sites Inaccessible

Some Apple Mac users who upgrade their OS X Lion from version 10.7.3 to the latest 10.7.4 have found that they cannot access SSL secured websites, such as those used for online shopping or banking. Instead, they see an error stating that the site’s identity cannot be verified, or that the certificate authority is an invalid issuer. The exact problem hasn’t been pinned down yet by Apple, but it appears to relate to a network configuration issue, where for some people it affects them if they’re sitting behind a proxy server, but for others it blocks SSL access regardless of their network configuration. This is quite an embarrassing problem for software that Apple touts as the world’s most advanced desktop operating system.

There are some unofficial fixes which one can try for the moment, though. Performing the following actions may restore SSL functionality: check time and date, clear firewall settings, rebuild network configurations, clear certificate management database caches, turn off OCSP and CRL services and ensure root certificates use default trust settings. These actions are explained in detail at the link below.