Issues with the SSL versions used by Curl and Python SSL lib

Question

TL;DR I'm trying to reach an URI which only takes SSLv3. If I try to access it with curl or Python requests (which uses the ssl module) it doesn't work (different errors).

Some longer explanation

There's this API who has this URI: https://api.mercadolibre.com/sites/MLA/search?q=ipod

1. If I try to access that URI with the browser, it works fine (Chrome and FF).

2. If I try to curl it: curl -Iv https://api.mercadolibre.com/sites/MLA/search?q=ipod it doesn't work. The error returned is:

   curl: (35) Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to api.mercadolibre.com:443
   

3. Forcing curl to use SSLv3 works fine:

   curl --sslv3 -Iv https://api.mercadolibre.com/sites/MLA/search?q=ipod
   

4. openssl s_client -connect api.mercadolibre.com:443

   answers with:

   CONNECTED(00000003)
   write:errno=104
   ---
   no peer certificate available
   ---
   No client certificate CA names sent
   ---
   SSL handshake has read 0 bytes and written 305 bytes
   ---
   New, (NONE), Cipher is (NONE)
   Secure Renegotiation IS NOT supported
   Compression: NONE
   Expansion: NONE
   ---
   

How can it be possible that the browser is connecting Ok and curl and Python are not? How should I fix this? Is this even my problem (or the owner of the API)?

Info about my system

• Ubuntu 14.04
• OpenSSL 1.0.1f 6 Jan 2014

Answer 1

At the time this question was asked, the site in question supported only a small selection of very weak cipher suites and had very little compatibility with modern user agents. Thus it was impossible for most browsers or even robots to negotiate a connection, let alone a secure one.

The site has been (mostly) fixed since; while it still has weak cipher suites and other problems, it should at least be functional.