BREAKING: Render MINOR – Delayed wildcard issuance or renewal [v1vdzmzbrq71]

Render experiencing delayed SSL wildcard certificate issuance/renewal. Partial disruption affecting custom domains. Immediate workarounds and monitoring steps inside.

🚨 INCIDENT REPORT: Render SSL Wildcard Certificate Delays

Status: IDENTIFIED | Severity: MINOR | Impact: Partial

Timeline: Detection confirmed. Root cause identified. No data loss.

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1. WHAT'S DOWN & WHO'S AFFECTED

Render's wildcard SSL certificate issuance and renewal pipeline is experiencing delays.

Direct Impact:

Custom domains awaiting new wildcard certificates

SSL renewal cycles delayed 2-6 hours (current estimate)

Wildcard subdomain deployments blocked until certs provision

Who's affected:

Projects using custom domains (not *.onrender.com)

Apps requiring wildcard coverage across subdomains

Teams with automated CI/CD tied to certificate readiness

Who's NOT affected:

Default *.onrender.com domains (unaffected)

Existing valid certificates (no disruption to live traffic)

HTTP-only deployments

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2. IMMEDIATE WORKAROUNDS (DO THIS NOW)

For urgent deployments:

Option A: Use default domain temporarily ``` Switch your DNS to your app's default *.onrender.com domain Redirect traffic there until wildcard cert provisions Estimated wait: 2-6 hours ```

Option B: Use individual certificates instead

Point each subdomain as separate CNAME (not wildcard)

Each gets individual Let's Encrypt certificate

Faster provisioning: 15-30 minutes per domain

Dashboard: Settings → Custom Domains → Add individual domains

Option C: Proxy through Cloudflare (temporary) ``` 1. Set DNS to Cloudflare nameservers 2. Point A/AAAA records to your *.onrender.com app 3. Use Cloudflare's Free SSL (auto-provisions in minutes) 4. Switch back to Render SSL once wildcard provisions ```

Option D: Wait with traffic rerouted

Keep existing cert active

Route new traffic to stable *.onrender.com domain

Old custom domain traffic continues uninterrupted

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3. CHECK IF YOUR PROJECT IS AFFECTED

In Render Dashboard: 1. Go to Settings → Custom Domains 2. Look for status badge next to your domain 3. Status will show: "Certificate Provisioning" (delayed) vs "Active" (no issue)

Command line check: ```bash echo | openssl s_client -servername yourdomain.com -connect yourdomain.com:443 2>/dev/null | grep -A 5 "subject=" ```

If cert is missing/delayed:

You'll see SSL error or self-signed cert

This confirms you're in the affected window

Proceed with workaround above

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4. ALTERNATIVE TOOLS TO CONSIDER

If you need immediate stability:

| Tool | SSL Speed | Notes | |------|-----------|-------| | Railway | 5-10 min | Similar architecture, no current issues | | Vercel | 2-5 min | Excellent for Next.js, auto-wildcard | | Heroku | 10-15 min | Legacy but reliable SSL | | Fly.io | 3-8 min | Modern, fast cert provisioning | | Cloudflare Pages | 1-3 min | Best-in-class SSL speed |

Our recommendation: Stick with Render. This is minor and resolving. Migrations take 2-4 hours anyway.

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5. HOW TO MONITOR RECOVERY

Check status live:

[Render Status Page](https://status.render.com) – Official updates

Dashboard Custom Domains section – Real-time per-project status

Verify your cert is active: ```bash ssl-cert-check -d yourdomain.com # every 30 minutes ```

Expected resolution: 6-12 hours from detection

Next update: Every 2 hours via @renderhosting Twitter

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FINAL WORD

This is a certificate provisioning queue issue—not a data, security, or routing problem. Your apps are running fine. Custom domain traffic is safe. Use workarounds above if you need new certs in the next few hours.

Stay calm. Render's infrastructure is solid. This resolves automatically.

Questions? Drop in Render's Discord. Team is actively monitoring.

—StillNotAThing DevOps Desk