[BUG] SSL Error happening in newer versions of Claude Code (Windows). Error: API Error: Unable to connect to API: SSL certificate verification failed.

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When sending a message in Claude Desktop, its failing with SSL errors. This is similar to previous issues such as:
#41157, which has been closed. But the bug is still alive.

Versions I tested that have no SSL error:
[system-info] App version: Claude 1.32885.1 (a757f5) 2026-08-18T19:00:11.000Z
[system-info] App version: Claude 1.37937.3 (28dcf5) 2026-08-26T19:52:45.000Z

Version I test that have SSL error:
[system-info] App version: Claude 1.40609.1 (69aac0) 2026-08-30T23:12:49.000Z
[system-info] App version: Claude 1.46388.4 (50e62f) 2026-09-05T01:57:47.000Z

System/Environment:
[system-info] Platform: win32 (x64)
[system-info] OS version: 10.0.26100 / 10.0.26100
[system-info] CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1360P (16 cores)
[system-info] Memory: 16 GB total, 2 GB available

My Observation or Intuition:
Something changed from 1.37937.3 to 1.40609.1, that causes the issue. That's the closest boundary I could test that separates the behavior.
The 1.379XX has no issues, while the next release 1.406XX and all after this have the SSL issues within the same environment.
This also aligns with what I've observed, most of my office mates where using claude desktop with the same setup without issues.
But after auto-updating this issue is now affecting a lot more users.

What Should Happen?

Claude should be able to respond, just like how it was doing in the previous versions.

Error Messages/Logs

Something went wrong
Try sending your message again. If it keeps happening, share feedback so we can investigate.

API Error: Unable to connect to API: SSL certificate verification failed. Check your proxy or corporate SSL certificates
You can restart the conversation from an earlier message.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Claude desktop with API gateway.
2. Send a test message, and make sure you are getting the error: API Error: Unable to connect to API: SSL certificate verification failed.
3. Download old versions (1.37937.3). And test sending the message again. (This version will work without SSL issue)
4. Download the latest version (1.46388.4). Test sending a message again, (This version will throw the SSL error)

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

1.37937.3

Claude Code Version

1.46388.4

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Windows Terminal

Additional Information

Other fixes I tried:

What worked:
NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

What did not work:
All NODE_OPTIONS, NODE_USE_SYSTEM_CA, NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS (After Exporting all Root CAs) and SSL_CERT_FILE Env var setup did not work.

Other information:
[deployment-mode] Effective mode: 3P
[deployment-mode] Persisted mode choice: 3p
[deployment-mode] inferenceProvider set: yes
[deployment-mode] Bootstrap configured: no
[managed-config] Source: local
[managed-config] inferenceGatewayBaseUrl = "https://aigateway.example.com"
[managed-config] inferenceCustomHeaders = <redacted>
[managed-config] inferenceGatewayApiKey = <redacted>
[managed-config] otlpProtocol = "http/protobuf"
[managed-config] otlpDesktopLogLevel = "error"
[managed-config] coworkTabEnabled = true
[managed-config] isClaudeCodeForDesktopEnabled = true
[managed-config] chatTabEnabled = true
[managed-config] chatAdvancedFileAnalysisEnabled = true
[managed-config] isDesktopExtensionEnabled = true
[managed-config] isDesktopExtensionSignatureRequired = false
[managed-config] disableAutoUpdates = false
[managed-config] updateViaUpdatesHost = false
[managed-config] disableFeatureDiscovery = false
[managed-config] bootstrapEnabled = true
[managed-config] trustBootstrapDelivery = false
[managed-config] modelPrefer1mContext = true
[managed-config] disableEssentialTelemetry = false
[managed-config] disableNonessentialTelemetry = false
[managed-config] disableNonessentialServices = false
[managed-config] managedMcpServers = <redacted>
[managed-config] mcpPersistentAlwaysAllowEnabled = true
[managed-config] isLocalDevMcpEnabled = true
[managed-config] autoModeEnabled = true
[managed-config] toolSearchEnabled = true
[managed-config] hardwareBuddyEnabled = true
[managed-config] requireCoworkFullVmSandbox = false
[managed-config] disableDeploymentModeChooser = false
[managed-config] disableDeepLinkRegistration = false