Unsupported SSL protocol version in PayPal-PHP-SDK - php

Question

I used this snippet in my application in Symfony2 + KMJPayPalBridgeBundle
http://paypal.github.io/PayPal-PHP-SDK/sample/doc/payments/CreatePaymentUsingPayPal.html
Few months ago it was all good but now I'm getting "Unsupported SSL protocol version" error.
Controller code
public function testAction()
{
$paypal = $this->get('paypal');
$apiContext = $paypal->getApiContext();
$payer = new Payer();
$payer->setPaymentMethod("paypal");
$item1 = new Item();
$item1->setName('Ground Coffee 40 oz')
->setCurrency('USD')
->setQuantity(1)
->setSku("123123"); // Similar to `item_number` in Classic API ->setPrice(7.5);
$item2 = new Item();
$item2->setName('Granola bars')
->setCurrency('USD')
->setQuantity(5)
->setSku("321321"); // Similar to `item_number` in Classic API ->setPrice(2);
$itemList = new ItemList();
$itemList->setItems(array($item1, $item2));
$details = new Details();
$details->setShipping(1.2)
->setTax(1.3)
->setSubtotal(17.50);
$amount = new Amount();
$amount->setCurrency("USD")
->setTotal(20)
->setDetails($details);
$transaction = new Transaction();
$transaction->setAmount($amount)
->setItemList($itemList)
->setDescription("Payment description")
->setInvoiceNumber(uniqid());
$baseUrl = "http://development.local";
$redirectUrls = new RedirectUrls();
$redirectUrls->setReturnUrl("$baseUrl/ExecutePayment.php?success=true")
->setCancelUrl("$baseUrl/ExecutePayment.php?success=false");
$payment = new Payment();
$payment->setIntent("sale")
->setPayer($payer)
->setRedirectUrls($redirectUrls)
->setTransactions(array($transaction));
$request = clone $payment;
try { $payment->create($apiContext); } catch (Exception $ex) {
ResultPrinter::printError("Created Payment Using PayPal. Please visit the URL to Approve.",
"Payment", null, $request, $ex); exit(1);
}
$approvalUrl = $payment->getApprovalLink();
ResultPrinter::printResult("Created Payment Using PayPal. Please visit the URL to Approve.",
"Payment", "<a href='$approvalUrl' >$approvalUrl</a>", $request, $payment);
return array();
}

Answer 1

Are you testing against the PayPal Sandbox API endpoints?
PayPal upgraded their Sandbox API endpoints last night to require TLS 1.2 and offering (only) a SHA256-signed certificate.
More details are here and here.
By the sounds of it, you're either trying to enforce something other than TLS 1.2 (likely), or your openssl libs are so old, they don't support TLS 1.2 (anything below OpenSSL 1.0.1c, so unlikely).
You may want to try running TlsCheck.php from the SDK

Answer 2

There was an upgrade of the SDK:
https://github.com/paypal/PayPal-PHP-SDK/issues/474
with a checklist of current system requirments.
In my case it was different CLI PHP and different on server that caused an issue.

Answer 3

PHP uses the system supplied CURL library. Version 7.34.0 or later is required. -- From the second link.
I'm running into the same issue, and followed the update guides.
I figured out that php is still using curl version 7.19.0 Even when I run curl --version, I get 7.46.0. Working with server admin to recompile php.