Cloudflare Error 525: Solving SSL Handshake Failed
Error code 525 Cloudflare means that the SSL handshake between Cloudflare and the origin web server failed. Learn what causes the Cloudflare 525 error and how to fix it in this quick guide.
What causes the Cloudflare error 525?
Cloudflare Error 525 happens if the web server doesn’t have a valid SSL certificate, if it’s misconfigured to reject certain SSL protocols, or if it's temporarily overloaded or offline. Web scraping without proper headers or SSL support can also trigger this error by overwhelming the server or appearing suspicious to security systems.
How to get rid of Cloudflare error 525 in 4 ways?
Verify your SSL setup and server compatibility
Start by checking if your origin server’s SSL certificate is valid, not expired, and properly installed. Cloudflare requires a valid certificate to complete the SSL handshake.
Make sure your server supports SNI (Server Name Indication), especially if you're hosting multiple domains.
Ensure your server supports the same cipher suites as Cloudflare to avoid any handshake mismatches.
Use high-quality proxies to imitate organic users
Some servers may reject connections that appear automated or suspicious. Using reliable proxy networks, like residential or datacenter proxies, can help simulate real user behavior and distribute requests across different IPs. This lowers the risk of SSL issues triggered by rate-limiting or firewall blocks that disrupt the handshake.
Rotate proxies and headers to avoid suspicion
Rotating proxies along with custom SSL headers can reduce the chances of handshake failures. Pairing this with a headless browser that manages SSL negotiation ensures that your requests mimic legitimate traffic, helping prevent the appearance of various scraping disruptions, such as 525 Cloudflare error.
Web Scraper API to avoid 525 error
Oxylabs’ Web Scraper API is built to handle complex anti-bot systems, including error message 525. It manages SSL handshakes, proxy rotation, and header management, so your requests look legitimate. With built-in retries, location targeting, and browser-like behavior, it ensures high success rates, even on websites with thick security layers.
Proxy management
Let ML-driven infrastructure handle proxies from a pool of 195 geo-locations for specific targets.
Custom parameters
Customize API behavior for your specific needs with custom headers and cookies.
AI-powered fingerprinting
Outsmart anti-scraping technologies with AI-picked IPs, headers, cookies, and WebRTC properties.
Automatic retries
Improve and simplify your processes with automatic retries of failed requests with different scraping parameters.
Headless Browser
Render JavaScript-reliant pages with a single code line and perform browser actions like clicking, scrolling, and more.
Custom Parser
Define custom parsing instructions and retrieve parsed data in JSON format.
Web Crawler
Crawl any site from top to bottom, select useful data, and fetch it in bulk.
Scheduler
Have your scraping projects run at any schedule, automatically deliver scraped data, and get notifications.