Permission and Ownership Issues

Incorrect file permissions cause certificate reading failures. Private keys require restrictive permissions preventing unauthorized access. Web servers must read certificate files while maintaining security.

Set proper permissions:

# Certificate files (readable by web server)
chmod 644 /etc/nginx/ssl/*.crt
chmod 644 /etc/nginx/ssl/*.pem

# Private keys (restricted access)
chmod 600 /etc/nginx/ssl/*.key

# Directory permissions
chmod 755 /etc/nginx/ssl

# Ownership (nginx example)
chown -R root:root /etc/nginx/ssl

# SELinux contexts (if enabled)
restorecon -Rv /etc/nginx/ssl
semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_config_t "/etc/nginx/ssl(/.*)?"