Python requests CA certificates as a string

There is a way to do it via temp files, like this:

cert = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False)
cert.write(CERTIFICATE_AS_STRING)
cert.close()
requests.get(url, cert=cert.name, verify=True)
os.unlink(cert.name)

If you'd like to know why this is potentially unsecure, check out my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/46570264/6445270

The example you have provided is passing a client-side cert as shown in the requests documentation.

As it stands there is no way to pass the client cert and key in memory (or as a string).

Monkey patching to the rescue - by monkey patching requests you can add the ability to load client certs and keys from memory. The following patch enables passing in a client cert and key in a variety formats without breaking the existing functionality.

import requests
from OpenSSL.crypto import PKCS12, X509, PKey


def _is_key_file_encrypted(keyfile):
    '''In memory key is not encrypted'''
    if isinstance(keyfile, PKey):
        return False
    return _is_key_file_encrypted.original(keyfile)


class PyOpenSSLContext(requests.packages.urllib3.contrib.pyopenssl.PyOpenSSLContext):
    '''Support loading certs from memory'''
    def load_cert_chain(self, certfile, keyfile=None, password=None):
        if isinstance(certfile, X509) and isinstance(keyfile, PKey):
            self._ctx.use_certificate(certfile)
            self._ctx.use_privatekey(keyfile)
        else:
            super().load_cert_chain(certfile, keyfile=keyfile, password=password)


class HTTPAdapter(requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter):
    '''Handle a variety of cert types'''
    def cert_verify(self, conn, url, verify, cert):
        if cert:
            # PKCS12
            if isinstance(cert, PKCS12):
                conn.cert_file = cert.get_certificate()
                conn.key_file = cert.get_privatekey()
                cert = None
            elif isinstance(cert, tuple) and len(cert) == 2:
                # X509 and PKey
                if isinstance(cert[0], X509) and hasattr(cert[1], PKey):
                    conn.cert_file = cert[0]
                    conn.key_file = cert[1]
                    cert = None
                # cryptography objects
                elif hasattr(cert[0], 'public_bytes') and hasattr(cert[1], 'private_bytes'):
                    conn.cert_file = X509.from_cryptography(cert[0])
                    conn.key_file = PKey.from_cryptography_key(cert[1])
                    cert = None
        super().cert_verify(conn, url, verify, cert)


def patch_requests(adapter=True):
    '''You can perform a full patch and use requests as usual:

    >>> patch_requests()
    >>> requests.get('https://httpbin.org/get')

    or use the adapter explicitly:

    >>> patch_requests(adapter=False)
    >>> session = requests.Session()
    >>> session.mount('https', HTTPAdapter())
    >>> session.get('https://httpbin.org/get')
    '''
    if hasattr(requests.packages.urllib3.util.ssl_, '_is_key_file_encrypted'):
        _is_key_file_encrypted.original = requests.packages.urllib3.util.ssl_._is_key_file_encrypted
        requests.packages.urllib3.util.ssl_._is_key_file_encrypted = _is_key_file_encrypted
    requests.packages.urllib3.util.ssl_.SSLContext = PyOpenSSLContext
    if adapter:
        requests.sessions.HTTPAdapter = HTTPAdapter

To use the patch you can do something like the following (assume the above code is in a file called patch.py)

import os
import requests
from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import serialization
from patch import patch_requests


CLIENT_CERT = serialization.load_pem_x509_certificate(
    os.getenv('CLIENT_CERT'), default_backend())
CLIENT_KEY = serialization.load_pem_private_key(
    os.getenv('CLIENT_KEY'), None, default_backend())


# monkey patch load_cert_chain to allow loading
# cryptography certs and keys from memory
patch_requests()


response = requests.get(url, cert=(CLIENT_CERT, CLIENT_KEY))

You now have the ability to supply a client cert to requests in memory in as pyopenssl object(s) or cryptography objects.

If one wants to do this without using temporary file, it is possible by overriding the requests SSLContext. Sample can be seen in this answer.