---
title: Troubleshooting Universal SSL · Cloudflare SSL/TLS docs
description: Review how to troubleshoot issues such as certificate timeouts when using Cloudflare Universal SSL.
lastUpdated: 2025-03-18T17:16:51.000Z
source_url:
  html: https://a74404c8.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/edge-certificates/universal-ssl/troubleshooting/index.md
  md: https://a74404c8.preview.developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/edge-certificates/universal-ssl/troubleshooting/
---

## Resolve a timed out state

If a certificate issuance times out, Cloudflare tells you where in the chain of issuance the timeout occurred: Initializing, Validation, Issuance, Deployment, or Deletion.

To resolve timeout issues, try one or more of the following options:

* Change the **Proxy status** of related DNS records to **DNS only** (gray-clouded) and wait at least a minute. Then, change the **Proxy status** back to **Proxied** (orange-clouded).
* [Disable Universal SSL](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/edge-certificates/universal-ssl/disable-universal-ssl/) and wait at least a minute. Then, re-enable Universal SSL.
* Send a PATCH request to the [validation endpoint](https://developers.cloudflare.com/api/resources/ssl/subresources/verification/methods/edit/) using the same DCV method (API only). Please make sure that the `--data` field is not empty in your request.
* Follow the [APEX validation method](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/edge-certificates/changing-dcv-method/methods/#perform-dcv).

## Other issues

For additional troubleshooting help, refer to [Troubleshooting SSL errors](https://developers.cloudflare.com/ssl/troubleshooting/).
