[Evolution] How to fix SSL Certificate check message and verify I am not getting a man-in-the-middle attack.

[Lee McKusick <leemck gmail com>]

Hello Evolution List, what a great email program Evolution is, and I'm
asking for a bit of targeted help.

        Basically I am getting a "SSL Certificate check..." error and I quote
the entire message at the bottom of this email.

        I run Evolution 2.28.3 (~2009 vintage perhaps) on a slightly out of
date Ubuntu Lucid system. 

        Back in November 2012 I added an S/MIME signature using the free
signature service from Comodo.com.

        I did a moderate amount of stumbling because I do not really know how
the SSH works. I may have deleted something that is needed for the
authentication chain to work.

        Now I get a "SSL Certificate check" when Evolution checks my cable tv
and Internet access home email address. 

        Problem Zero is: I am unwilling to uninstall Evolution or force apt-get
to download a newer version of Evolution. The reason I am unwilling is I
have an enormous investment of messages, addresses, mail handling
scripts, and email configuration for 6 email addresses, and several
S/MIME and GnuPG signatures. 

        Problem One is I am your classic upgrade problem user and I would say,
I will upgrade Evolution versions on another day when I can do it
properly. I am presently doing some community political stuff that
demands all my time and I know better than starting a distribution
upgrade when you have a lot of work and a deadline looming.
        
        Problem Two is: When I have a SSL Certificate check message, what are
the steps I can do by hand to determine if the certificate is valid? 

        Problem Three is: How do I test for a broken SSL Certificate
authentication chain? Then, how do I fix the chain? Can I download the
latest root certificate table? How might I edit my damaged file and
restore what I damaged?

        I have a sneaking suspicion I deleted a Comodo.com SSL certificate
because I thought it was useless junk that might be an intrusion exploit
sleeping on my system. I might have deleted something using
Evolution->Preferences->Certificates or else I may have removed SSL
files from /tmp. What I actually did is I broke the SSL authentication
chain

I will say thanks so much for some guidance. I hope what you write to me
can be copied and patched into the Evolution FAQ.

        Cordially yours, Lee McKusick writing from El Granada, California.


SSL Certificate check for smtp.comcast.net:

Issuer:            CN=COMODO High-Assurance Secure Server CA,O=COMODO CA
Limited,L=Salford,ST=Greater Manchester,C=GB
Subject:           CN=smtp.comcast.net,OU=EliteSSL,OU=Hosted by Comcast
Corporation,OU=Business Center,O=Comcast Corporation,STREET=1 Comcast
Center,L=Philadelphia,ST=PA,postalCode=19103,C=US
Fingerprint:       65:e3:21:94:d4:97:9d:04:36:bd:63:d2:e3:ed:ae:cb
Signature:         BAD

Do you wish to accept?