Using Ratchet WebSockets in a Secure Environment is not working - ssl

Question

I am using Ratchet WebSocket in a Windows-based server project that is entirely working in an insecure environment. That is to say that when I navigate my browser to http://www.example.com and connect to the websocket server using ws:// on port 8686 everything works spectacularly.
The server doesn't run through IIS - but instead is executed via php.exe in command prompt like this.
php wsocket-server.php [...parameters...]
However, if run the Ratchet Server and try to connect from https://www.example.com using wss:// the browser simply will not connect to the websocket server, despite the fact that the server starts up fine and the insecure site and connect via ws://
Now, I realize I need to utilize some additional code to include my SSL documentation. This is the relevant code I have in place:
use Ratchet\Server\IoServer;
use Ratchet\Http\HttpServer;
use Ratchet\WebSocket\WsServer;
$websocket_server = new WsServer();
if ($site_secure){
//RUN WSS (SECURE) SERVER
$options = [
'local_cert' => 'c:\inetpub\ssl\2c6fa1928847451c.crt',
'local_pk' => 'c:\inetpub\ssl\2c6fa1928847451c.key',
'allow_self_signed' => true,
'verify_peer' => false
];
$loop = React\EventLoop\Factory::create();
$websocket_server->enableKeepAlive($loop);
$app = new HttpServer($websocket_server);
$insecure_websockets = new \React\Socket\Server('0.0.0.0:'.$port, $loop);
$secure_websockets = new \React\Socket\SecureServer($insecure_websockets , $loop, $options);
$secure_websockets_server = new \Ratchet\Server\IoServer($app, $secure_websockets, $loop);
$secure_websockets_server->run();
}else{
//RUN WS (INSECURE) SERVER
$http_server = new HttpServer($websocket_server);
$server = IoServer::factory($http_server, $port);
$websocket->log ("Initializing ".(($site_secure) ? "Secure " : "Insecure ")."Server ($port)");
$server->run();
}
What I have tried
I have ensured the correct ports are all open in the windows firewall.
I have ensured nothing else is listening on the port using netstat
I have tried using nginx, on a minimal level. I'd prefer to NOT use this method if possible, and was having some initial problems with it starting up so I did not dedicate 100% to it at this time. Ideally, I'd like to use Ratchet's native abilities.
I have searched other similar posts both here and elsewhere, such as this.
I have tried a number of different ports, even the same 8686 as I use in the insecure connection
I am hoping someone can lend me an assist with an issue that has been driving me crazy for 2 weeks. At this point I feel like I'm just trying things to try them and I may be coding myself in circles.
Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

A browser is never going to connect to anything running on port 465. Especially not a WebSocket.
Establishing a WebSocket connection is specified in terms of the Fetch standard. As such, the specific exclusion of this port is found within the latter:
A port is a bad port if it is listed in the first column of the following table.
Port
Typical service
…
…
465
submission
…
…
Now, why are some ports blacklisted? This is a protection against cross-protocol scripting attacks, as once demonstrated (warning: NSFW links) against Firefox and against Safari. Port 465 has been (and still sometimes is) used for SMTP over (pure) TLS, so in this case, an XPS attack might trick a browser into sending mail on the user’s behalf. Blocking those ports is meant to prevent it. Of course, all bets are off when a service runs on a non-standard port.
To make the service available in a browser, all you need to do is change the port number.