Google Chrome Hit By SSL Bug Restricting Google Services

Google Chrome today has been hit by a bug that prevents the browser from logging on to Google services requiring SSL, such as Gmail and Google Docs. After an update was pushed to Google Chrome, users on Windows 7 found that trying to access Google services resulted in an "Invalid Server Certificate" message, with no way around the problem except to use another browser.

The problem seems to be isolated to those using the latest version of Chrome, 18.0.1025.151, and running the 64-bit version of Windows 7. So far the only way to gain access to Google services with Chrome again is to reinstall the browser, which will give temporary access. Once you close the browser and reopen it, the server certificate error will return.

We stumbled across the bug earlier this afternoon after updating Chrome, and had to switch to Firefox in order to access Google's services. The bug has hit one of our desktop machines running Windows 7, but doesn't seem to have affected a MacBook Air running Windows 7 via BootCamp.

Users of Chrome have taken to Google's support pages with the same problem. There are two threads on Google Groups, with dozens of people all reporting the same issue. A representative from Google has replied, saying that they're looking into the issue, as well as asking people for more details in order to troubleshoot. The exact cause of the problem is unclear right now.

UPDATE (15/04): Google has fixed the bug recently with an update to Chrome. The issue was affecting users on Windows 7 64-bit who hadn't updated to Service Pack 1. We recommend you grab all the latest Windows updates, but if you can't for whatever reason, you should be able to use Chrome correctly with the latest versions.