Troubleshooting Heroku SSL Errors

Last updated October 13, 2026

Table of Contents

• What the error looks like
• Invalid common name: DNS points to herokuapp.com
• No certificate for the host name at Heroku
• Have more questions?

A certificate error for a domain on Heroku usually has one of two causes: the DNS record points to a herokuapp.com address instead of the host name’s herokudns.com DNS target, or Heroku has no valid certificate for the host name. For certificate errors on other hosts, see Troubleshooting SSL Certificate Errors.

What the error looks like

Browsers report a name mismatch, for example Chrome’s “Your connection is not private” with NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID. The certificate the browser received is for *.herokuapp.com or for another name, not for your domain.

Invalid common name: DNS points to herokuapp.com

If the record for your host name points to your-app.herokuapp.com, Heroku answers with its own *.herokuapp.com certificate, which does not cover your domain. Check where the host name points:

dig www.example.com

If the answer shows a CNAME to an address ending in herokuapp.com, find the correct DNS target with heroku domains -a your-app. It looks like whispering-willow-5678.herokudns.com. Update the CNAME record, or the ALIAS record for the domain apex, in DNSimple to that target. See Pointing the Domain Apex to Heroku.

No certificate for the host name at Heroku

If DNS already points to the herokudns.com target, check which certificates the app has:

heroku certs -a your-app

• Automated Certificate Management: run heroku certs:auto -a your-app to see the status for each host name. Heroku can only issue the certificate once the host name points to its herokudns.com target. If the domain has CAA records, they must allow Let’s Encrypt, which issues Heroku’s certificates.
• A certificate you uploaded: the certificate must cover every host name you serve, such as both example.com and www.example.com. See SSL certificate names and How to Install an SSL Certificate on Heroku.

Have more questions?

If you have any questions or need assistance with an SSL error on Heroku, contact support, and we will be happy to help. You can also read more about SSL certificates at DNSimple.