SMTP connect() failed phpMailer [out-of-date CA certificate issue]? - php

Question

I've been using phpMailer to send emails until few days ago, and it stopped working surprisingly.
I'm using GMAIL SMTP server as a host.
Here's what the Exception and debugging message shows in console :
2017-12-19 05:39:02 Connection: opening to ssl://smtp.gmail.com:465, t=10, opt=array (
)
2017-12-19 05:39:02 SMTP ERROR: Failed to connect to server: (0)
2017-12-19 05:39:02 SMTP connect() failed.
And here's my mail functionality:
public static function mailTo($recipients)
{
$f3 = \Base::instance();
$edit = $f3->get('editTrue');
$user = AclHelper::getCurrentUser();
$template= new \Template;
if(isset($edit))
{
$mailBody = $template->render('leave/requestEdit.html');
}
else
{
$mailBody= $template->render('leave/emailTemp.html');
}
// When true, PHPMailer returns exceptions
$mail = new PHPMailer(true);
try {
$mail->isSMTP(); // Set mailer to use SMTP
$mail->isHTML(true);
$mail->addAddress($user['email']);
$mail->addAddress("malakar.rakesh1993#gmail.com");
// foreach($recipients as $recipient){
// $mail->addCC($recipient);
// }
$mail->SMTPDebug = 4;
$mail->SMTPAuth = true; // authentication enabled
$mail->SMTPSecure = 'ssl'; // secure transfer enabled REQUIRED for Gmail
$mail->Host = "smtp.gmail.com";
$mail->Port = 465; // or 587
$mail->Username = "malakar.rakesh1993#gmail.com";
$mail->Password = "abc123";
// $mail->Host = $f3->get('GBD.smtp.host'); // Specify main and backup SMTP servers
$mail->setFrom($user['email']);
$userFullName = trim(ucfirst($user['firstname'])) . " " . trim(ucfirst($user['lastname']));
$mail->FromName = $userFullName;
$mail->Body = $f3->get('message');
$mail->Body .="<br>". $mailBody;
if(isset($edit))
{
$mail->AltBody = '';
}
else
{
$mail->AltBody = 'Hello.. Not working';
}
$mail->Subject = 'Updates on leave date applied';
$mailStatus = (boolean)$mail->send();
if ($mailStatus === true)
{
return $mail;
}
}
catch (phpmailerException $e)
{
$response = array(
'status'=>'error',
'message'=>'Got some error while sending emails',
'exceptions'=>$e->getMessage()
);
return $response;
}
catch (Exception $e) {
$response = array(
'status'=>'error',
'message'=>'Got some error while sending emails',
'exceptions'=>$e->getMessage()
);
return $response;
}
}
I also tried using tls as encryption protocol and 587 port, but gives 500 internal server error.
The same code is running in development version in server, but unfortunately not in my localhost.
I was suggested of out-dated CA certificate in my system, and I tried renewing the up-to-date CA certificate following the link Trobuleshooting, but it's not working either.
Stupid maybe but I tried pinging to smtp.gmail.com [without ssl and port] in my command prompt and I'm receiving feedback.
Could it be that Google limits email sending? But I can still access my account.
I have followed almost every articles and solutions available in the Internet.
Please help me through this...this is driving me crazy.
Any help is very much appreciated. Thanks...