curl tlsv1.2 option not working

Question

I have 2 Linux systems where the command -> curl -V -> shows the below

System-1

curl 7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.16.2.3 Basic ECC zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
Protocols: tftp ftp telnet dict ldap ldaps http file https ftps scp sftp
Features: GSS-Negotiate IDN IPv6 Largefile NTLM SSL libz

System-2

curl 7.19.7 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.19.7 NSS/3.19.1 Basic ECC zlib/1.2.3 libidn/1.18 libssh2/1.4.2
Protocols: tftp ftp telnet dict ldap ldaps http file https ftps scp sftp
Features: GSS-Negotiate IDN IPv6 Largefile NTLM SSL libz

If I try a curl command using tlsv1.2 option on System-1 , it throws an error -

[root@ssclnx1 ~]# curl -k -1 --tlsv1.2 --user user:pass -X GET https://HOST:9443/console/deploymnt/login 
curl: option --tlsv1.2: is unknown
curl: try 'curl --help' or 'curl --manual' for more information

Same command works fine on System-2.

The only difference between the curl version in the two system is -

NSS/3.16.2.3
NSS/3.19.1

What is NSS exactly? What lib\jar\utility I need to upgrade in order to upgrade the NSS to 3.19.1 ? I have to give a general recommendation to the customer so that the curl tlsv1.2 option would work. Please suggest. I am blocked on this.

Thanks in advance -

Abhijit.

Answer 1

What is NSS exactly?

The Network Security Services Library. This is the TLS library used by Mozilla (Firefox) and in parts by Chrome. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS.

What lib\jar\utility I need to upgrade in order to upgrade the NSS to 3.19.1

I doubt that just upgrading the library will help. NSS support TLS 1.2 since version 3.15.1 but when building curl it was probably decided to not build curl with TLS 1.2 support enabled. Thus it might be enough to rebuild curl and make sure to include TLS 1.2 support. The problem might also be solved if you upgrade your system.