Cannot Initiate Secure Connections

Plex Media Server Remote Access
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1

Server Version#: 1.43.2.10687
Player Version#: Android “2026.10.1”, Roku “9.10.6.11470-97bdece10-plex”

Hey all, running into some remote access issues after years of smooth sailing.

Recently I had some of my remote clients report an inability to view the libraries on a dedicated app, but can access via the webapp. I’ve since confirmed this on a remote network with the android app and roku app (not working), as well as the webapp (working) on the remote network.

I’ve already done some digging around in the router settings, and it should be golden. I have a Unifi Dream Router 7, with a whitelist for plex.direct traffic, and a port forward for 32400 for remote access. The port is active on portchecker sites, and as previously mentioned, accessible from the webapp.

Oddly enough, in the roku app, if I disable secure connections, it works fine! So that gives some clue as to the problem likely is related to secure connectivity. To that point, I do get the CERT: incomplete TLS handshake from x.x.x.x:48006: sslv3 alert certificate unknown (SSL routines) appearing in the logs when I attempt to connect, but none of the 429 errors I see mentioned when SSL certificates need re-issued.

At this point, I’ve run out of ideas. Potentially its a certificate problem? Maybe there’s some router setting I missed? I’d love some input, and I can get some logs posted if needed as well!

2

When you say “whitelist” do you mean a DNS Forwarding Policy for the plex.direct private domain?

You have a hostname mis-match for the CERT being checked. Check the [data] lines in “Plex Media Server.x.logs” for what Plex is responding to.

3

I added plex.direct to the allow-list using the content filter tool in UnifiOS. From what I found online, it was the way around the DNS rerouting mismatch on this router.

As far as the [data] lines go, they only appear when connecting via the webapp, no trace of them when attempting via roku or android. Here’s the line if it provides any useful info: DEBUG - [EventSourceClient/pubsub/pubsub03.pop.fmt.plex.bz:443] EventSource: Got event [data] '<Message address="x.x.x.x" port="32400" asyncIdentifier="0197f4eb-8393-4501-b21c-432444750bbd" connectivity="0" command="notifyConnectivity"/>'

4

RESOLVED:
Just wanted to follow up with some info about the problem, in case anyone comes across it in the future, as well as solving it.

  • The problem ended up being bad certificates. Once they were deleted and re-acquired, the problem resolved and all remote clients could connect securely again.
  • It likely began when we moved our PMS and database from a mac mini to a mac pro, and I’m assuming the certs just got transferred with it.
    • It’s possible another thing caused the problem, but the migration seemed to cause the problem for us.
  • To reclaim the certs, we did the following:
    1. Log out of PMS, and shut it down
    2. Navigate to Library/Caches/PlexMediaServer (This is where the two certs are held)
    3. Delete the certificates
    4. Navigate to Library/Preferences, look for com.plexapp.plexmediaserver.plist and open it.
    5. Clear all fields mentioning certificates, then save changes.
    6. Start up plex media server, give it time to process and claim new certificates.
    7. Navigate to settings > network, and change secure connections from preferred to required, save.
    8. Switch secure connections back to preferred, then save again.
    9. Navigate to settings > remote access, and turn on remote access again
    10. It began working for us at this point!

Hopefully this can come of use for some user with an odd situation like ours!