explanation of apple error codes

I use a Google search.

Resolve iOS update and restore errors

Mac OS Error Codes

Those seem to be SSL related errors:

errSSLClosedAbort = -9806, /* connection closed via error */

errSSLBadRecordMac = -9846, /* bad MAC */

If that's correct, something is trying to create a secure socket layer connect, finding an internal error, and aborting the connection. Of course, third-party apps may unintentionally produce error codes with duplicate numbers, but if that makes sense in your context...

charmides wrote:

it is safari 8.0.2 (10600.2.5) on OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) which is issuing that errors. I found

18.01.15 18:12:41,648 com.apple.WebKit.Networking[43713]: CFNetwork SSLHandshake failed (-9846)

18.01.15 18:12:41,712 com.apple.WebKit.Networking[43713]: CFNetwork SSLHandshake failed (-9846)

18.01.15 18:12:41,775 com.apple.WebKit.Networking[43713]: CFNetwork SSLHandshake failed (-9806)

18.01.15 18:12:41,780 com.apple.WebKit.Networking[43713]: NSURLConnection/CFURLConnection HTTP load failed (kCFStreamErrorDomainSSL, -9806)

in the console log

when I try to connect to a website with https:

You get this when you try to connect to any website via https, or when trying to connect to a particular website via https? My guess would be the later, which would mean either that the https server is down or improperly configured, or that there is some problem with authentication. You might try logging out of that site and trying to get back in, but it doesn't sound like a problem on your end of the internet.

charmides wrote:

thank you for your answer. it is only one particular website, and I think that either the server is misconfigured or it is a safari bug. A safari bug is unlikely but should be taken into account because firefox and internet explorer are able to connect to this site correctly. If I use paros as proxy between the safari and the server, every think works fine too, may be because paros is doing the TLS/SSL stuff with the server.

"errSSLBadRecordMac" means bad massage authentication code. This is thrown if the integrity of a message can not be verified and means that the message could be changed on the way to safari. But it may be that safari errs? no?

Anything is possible, and there are a lot of layers to this particular problem. I can't really tell much without knowing a whole lot of details (from what virus-checkers, ad-blockers, and extensions you're running, to whether you have site-relevant cookies, certificates, or keychain entries, to what software is being run on the remote server, and more). Generally with Safari problems, my first guess involves pointing out that WebKit is known for being almost obsessively compliant with standards, and that can cause headaches with servers that run a little free and easy (particularly Windows-based servers). But that's just a guess.

For diagnostics (if it's worth your time delving into this), there are two immediate thing to try:

1. Create a new user account and try accessing the site from that. If you can access the site from a fresh user account, then the problem is peculiar to something in your regular user account, so you should start looking at extensions, ad-blockers, cookies, and other account-level possibilities.
2. Enable developer mode in Safari (preferences->advanced-> show develop menu), try to load the page, and then look at the Web Inspector and Error Console to see if anything useful is there.

otherwise you may need to take it up with the site admin at the affected page.

charmides wrote:

I know that WebKit is mostly compliant with standards. That is what I meant with "unlikely", when I suspected a safari error.

I hear that, and it's certainly possible, but hundreds of thousands of people use https from Safari every day without trouble, so if it is a Safari bug, it's a rare bug, and somehow related to something specific that the site in question is doing. I suggest the thing to do now is contact support at that site. Their server logs should tell why the connection gets aborted, and that will let you figure out whether it's a Safari issue or something else. If it turns out to be a Safari issue, come back here and I'll show you how to file a bug report.