elixir - Connection closed - strange error, unable to connect from erlang VM to certain host

Question

IMPORTANT Proved that migration from 18.3 to 18.3.4 causes this issue, and migration back to 18.3 removes it.

Everything worked until one moment. Then it just stoped to work.

  def work do
    HTTPotion.get("https://ssl-third-party.com",
    ibrowse: [
      is_ssl: true,
      ssl_options: [
        certfile: Path.join(File.cwd!, "cert_dev.pem"),
        password: "pass" |> to_charlist,
      ]
      ])
  end

Which responds with:

%HTTPotion.ErrorResponse{message: "closed"}

I tried several erlang libs without elixir wrapping(hackney + ibrowse) from iex shell:

iex(5)> url = <<"https://ssl-third-party.com">>
iex(6)> headers = []
[]
iex(8)> payload = <<>>
""
iex(9)> options=[:insecure]
[:insecure]
iex(10)> :hackney.request(m, url, headers, payload, options)
{:error, :closed}
###
iex(1)> a = "https://ssl-third-party.com" |> to_char_list
iex(2)> :ibrowse.send_req(a, [], :get)
{:error, {:conn_failed, {:error, :closed}}}

While I can connect to other hosts.

Applications are started, I can make request from same session.

Connection works with simple curl request.

Erlang tested - 18.3.4/19.0.2

OS X El Capitan.

UPD1 also I noted this report during reinstalling all erlang-related packages:

20:25:01.535 [error] Failed updating session: 
   ProfileName: :httpc_mix
   SessionId:   {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}
   Pos:         7
   Value:       0
when
   Session (db) info: :undefined
   Session (db):      {:session, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}, false, :https,
 {:sslsocket, {:gen_tcp, #Port<0.5536>, :tls_connection, :undefined},
  #PID<0.164.0>}, {:essl, []}, 1, :keep_alive, true}
   Session (record):  {:EXIT,
 {:badarg,
  [{:ets, :lookup,
    [:httpc_mix__session_db, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}], []},
   {:httpc_manager, :lookup_session, 2, [file: 'httpc_manager.erl', line: 189]},
   {:httpc_handler, :update_session, 4,
    [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1909]},
   {:httpc_handler, :handle_empty_queue, 4,
    [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1368]},
   {:httpc_handler, :handle_info, 2, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 471]},
   {:gen_server, :try_dispatch, 4, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 601]},
   {:gen_server, :handle_msg, 5, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 667]},
   {:proc_lib, :init_p_do_apply, 3, [file: 'proc_lib.erl', line: 247]}]}}
   T: :error
   E: :badarg

20:25:01.536 [error] Failed updating session: 
   ProfileName: :httpc_mix
   SessionId:   {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}
   Pos:         9
   Value:       true
when
   Session (db) info: :undefined
   Session (db):      {:session, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}, false, :https,
 {:sslsocket, {:gen_tcp, #Port<0.5536>, :tls_connection, :undefined},
  #PID<0.164.0>}, {:essl, []}, 1, :keep_alive, false}
   Session (record):  {:EXIT,
 {:badarg,
  [{:ets, :lookup,
    [:httpc_mix__session_db, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}], []},
   {:httpc_manager, :lookup_session, 2, [file: 'httpc_manager.erl', line: 189]},
   {:httpc_handler, :update_session, 4,
    [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1909]},
   {:httpc_handler, :maybe_make_session_available, 2,
    [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1516]},
   {:httpc_handler, :answer_request, 3,
    [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1507]},
   {:httpc_handler, :terminate, 2, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 759]},
   {:gen_server, :try_terminate, 3, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 629]},
   {:gen_server, :terminate, 7, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 795]}]}}
   T: :error
   E: :badarg

20:25:01.541 [error] GenServer #PID<0.163.0> terminating
** (stop) {:failed_updating_session, [profile: :httpc_mix, session_id: {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}, pos: 9, value: true, etype: :error, error: :badarg, stacktrace: [{:ets, :update_element, [:httpc_mix__session_db, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}, {9, true}], []}, {:httpc_manager, :update_session, 4, [file: 'httpc_manager.erl', line: 210]}, {:httpc_handler, :update_session, 4, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1887]}, {:httpc_handler, :maybe_make_session_available, 2, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1516]}, {:httpc_handler, :answer_request, 3, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 1507]}, {:httpc_handler, :terminate, 2, [file: 'httpc_handler.erl', line: 759]}, {:gen_server, :try_terminate, 3, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 629]}, {:gen_server, :terminate, 7, [file: 'gen_server.erl', line: 795]}]]}
    (inets) httpc_handler.erl:1911: :httpc_handler.update_session/4
    (inets) httpc_handler.erl:1516: :httpc_handler.maybe_make_session_available/2
    (inets) httpc_handler.erl:1507: :httpc_handler.answer_request/3
    (inets) httpc_handler.erl:759: :httpc_handler.terminate/2
    (stdlib) gen_server.erl:629: :gen_server.try_terminate/3
    (stdlib) gen_server.erl:795: :gen_server.terminate/7
    (stdlib) proc_lib.erl:247: :proc_lib.init_p_do_apply/3
Last message: {:ssl, {:sslsocket, {:gen_tcp, #Port<0.5536>, :tls_connection, :undefined}, #PID<0.164.0>}, "HTTP/1.1 200 OK
x-amz-id-2: FGpS/bqXLPTNYV4oMTTIvqekRgbExlvO83ZoTR6deiB02Hsm4uqtctPYvP5lqryk/ZYK12/DCuM=
x-amz-request-id: 346087C27C829E83
x-amz-replication-status: COMPLETED
Cache-Control: public, max-age=604800
x-amz-meta-surrogate-key: installs
x-amz-version-id: IzHO194FIe8NSS4oev.5dtp2BgBltonw
Last-Modified: Wed, 29 Jun 2016 00:00:27 GMT
ETag: "e8a325a6ca33736d137e5b6f57fe4259"
Content-Type: binary/octet-stream
Server: AmazonS3
Via: 1.1 varnish
Fastly-Debug-Digest: 864530c58fa2f5e6f7b455ba1b8a8fd668c94f688c98b6cdc85319515ff6f6b1
Content-Length: 350
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:25:01 GMT
Via: 1.1 varnish
Age: 235183
Connection: keep-alive
X-Served-By: cache-iad2144-IAD, cache-bma7023-BMA
X-Cache: HIT, HIT
X-Cache-Hits: 1, 1
X-Timer: S1469813101.087231,VS0,VE0

jM3an/yCuclmNcCX0wzS9QhCHsJl+Xf6/FS5bAaQ5O9AAFMlkCnJt4vW08LNU6eL
kfOsK+mVZ1n8Dk/+I8ThzpO1NZlH3UNYt/8OgK+ZfhFlrT0D1UZ/QEIR1/8TIC4v
C25ibCcvxTK9zG93mAdrLLCLA6/o4NXeaMV6DOOZ31ZcMWjpCNjDLU1B20UsVSBN
KzsLkI4QfgrtSt5Iquhs0wovJlpz/lZh7jEf58BTMWa/Z9Yl2EmEVsyO8Fie5RiF
p+KTkDILxY/QkKwSPE+0AcS5BR3dpJSsp8m5RVLUb/44b0KUKko+uPBmN8g6TSYP
GSIG5Ay9BjXE0uAi2RTFEw==
"}
State: {:state, {:request, #Reference<0.0.3.498>, #PID<0.70.0>, 0, :https, {'repo.hex.pm', 443}, '/installs/rebar3-1.x.csv.signed', [], :get, {:http_request_h, :undefined, 'keep-alive', :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, 'repo.hex.pm', :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, [], 'Mix/1.3.2', :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, '0', :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, ...}, {[], []}, {:http_options, 'HTTP/1.1', :infinity, true, {:essl, []}, :undefined, true, :infinity, false}, 'https://repo.hex.pm/installs/rebar3-1.x.csv.signed', [], :none, [], 1469813101026, :undefined, :undefined, false}, {:session, {{'repo.hex.pm', 443}, #PID<0.163.0>}, false, :https, {:sslsocket, {:gen_tcp, #Port<0.5536>, :tls_connection, :undefined}, #PID<0.164.0>}, {:essl, []}, 1, :keep_alive, false}, :undefined, :undefined, :undefined, {:httpc_response, :parse, [:nolimit, true]}, {[], []}, {[], []}, :new, [], :nolimit, :nolimit, {:options, {:undefined, []}, {:undefined, []}, 0, 2, 5, 120000, 2, :disabled, false, :inet, :default, :default, []}, {:timers, [], :undefined}, :httpc_mix, :inactive}

UPD2

Probably must be OSX or >18.3 OTP bug: just made it on the other ubuntu computer Erlang version 18.3 and it worked fine, this one returns (Erlang shell):

httpc:request(get, {"https://ssl-third-party.com", []}, [], []).
{error,{failed_connect,[{to_address,{"https://ssl-third-party.com",
                                     443}},
                        {inet,[inet],closed}]}}

Answer 1

Sounds like you're running in to the same problem discussed in this erlang-questions mail thread recently. Apparently the SSL application changed cipher suite configurations between 18.3 patch versions which can lead to this problem.

In the mail thread I referenced the solution was to configure SSL to use TLS 1.2, i.e. setting

{versions, ['tlsv1.2']}

for the SSL application.