Problem to access opendap data behind https urls

hello,

We want to use opendap capabilities in Matlab to read netcdf via thredds data system. Our problem is that opendap urls begins by https:// and not http due to security reason. Visibly, using https urls does not work while http url seems ok. We have tried matlab 2012 version with ncread toolbox and matlab 2014 version with netcdf.open capabilities. Could you please help us to manage opendap data using https urls? Thanks in advance,

Answer 1

[Michael R. Shannon]

As of release R2016b this is still an issue. However, it is easily fixed with a small patch, outlined in bug report 1072120.

I agree that this is a serious issue, especially with the new HTTPS-Only federal mandate. Where I work we are planning to offer OPeNDAP access, but will be requiring SSL and thus without this fixed in the mainstream we will be alienating a lot of users.

Answer 2

[Patrick Dickhudt]

This is a problem for myself and numerous colleagues as well. Please fix.

Answer 3

[Eric Lin]

Hi Julien,

I work at the MathWorks and can confirm that, unfortunately, reading OPeNDAP sources over https is currently not possible in MATLAB. I'll go ahead let the development team here know about this feature request.

[Nickitas Georgas]

Hi. We had the same issue: Matlab does not accept an https OpenDAP link, if the user uses the correct URL path name, which would be something like "https://$urlpath". However, depending on the settings of the HTTPS server that services that dataset, I discovered a "trick" that is really a vulnerability: If instead of the served OpenDAP link "https://$urlpath", the user cheated and used "http://$urlpath" in their matlab calls, e.g. ncdisp or ncread, and as long as the $urlpath was to a specific dataset, matlab could access that https dataset. This is a huge security vulnerability, as long as intruders know specific URLs. So, we changed our server protocols to disallow this. But of course now we cannot access https URLs through MATLAB either.

This is an important consideration for using secure OpenDAP paths. In other software applications, accessing an https OpenDAP URL initially prompts for login and password, which are then stored in an encrypted form if the user prefers to not have to provide them again; and which allows for automated scripting. I wish Mathworks can address this issue similarly.

By the way, Mathworks has my consent to remove this comment if they deem necessary.

Answer 4

[KorakS]

Is there any update on reading files in Thredds Opendap server, with https:// links? I use Matlab2012a and is not able to do that. Is Matlab planning to have this capability in latest version?

Answer 5

[David Nielsen]

Has the https Opendap issue been fixed? Any news on this? Using Matlab2013b and having the same problem.

[Walter Roberson]

The bug is marked as fixed in R2017a. (That will not help you for R2013b though.)