> Source: [sk184919](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk184919)

# sk184919 - Maestro Orchestrator secure REST authentication fails between peers

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Solution ID | sk184919 |
| Date Created | 2026-04-29 |
| Last Modified | 2026-04-30 |
| Technical Level | Advanced |
| Products | Scalable Platforms |
| Versions | R82 |
| OS | Gaia |
| Platform | Maestro Orchestrator |

## Symptoms

- * Maestro Orchestrators recognize each other as known peers but fail to establish secure REST communication.

* Health Check Point (HCP) reports these errors:

  `
  `
  * Orchestrators REST server.........................[ERROR]
  * Maestro Orchestrator Authentication...............[ERROR]

* Orchestrator logs or HCP output shows messages similar to:

  `
  ``
  `
  * Orchestrator is known but cannot securely communicate.
  * The certificate has expired in 2010.

* On each Orchestrator, under `/etc/local_cert/`:

  `
  ``
  `
  * certificate.pem -- expired Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate (expiry in 2010).
  * certificate.pem.new -- newer, valid certificate.

* After running `authd reset-cert` (in the Expert mode) on the Orchestrator, the command `orch_stat -Av` continues to show:

  `Local can REST: false`

  until the httpd2 process is restarted.
* The instructions in [sk182406](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk182406) do not resolve the issue.

## Cause

An expired SSL/TLS certificate used for internal HTTPS (REST API) communication between Orchestrators caused the issue.

Although a valid new certificate (`/etc/local_cert/certificate.pem.new)` was already generated, it was not promoted to replace the active certificate (`certificate.pem`). As a result, the `httpd2` process continued to use the expired certificate.

In addition, `httpd2` loads certificates only at startup and does not automatically reload updated certificates, requiring a manual restart.

A time skew between Orchestrators may also contribute to certificate validation failures.

## Solution

This solution requires authentication. Please log in to view the full solution.

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