Terminology Index

Glossary

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Root CA

A top-level certificate authority whose self-signed certificate sits at the apex of a PKI hierarchy. Browsers and operating systems ship with trusted root CAs that anchor the chain of trust for all subordinate certificates.

A root CA is the foundation of a PKI's chain of trust: its certificate is self-signed and distributed to relying parties (browsers, OSes) as inherently trusted. Subordinate (intermediate) CAs are signed by the root, issuing the certificates used in practice, so the root itself is kept offline and used sparingly to limit exposure. Trust hinges on root CAs being well-managed, since compromise of one root could undermine trust in vast portions of the internet.

Introduced in: Cryptography Essentials

Examples

  • A browser shipping with a set of trusted root CA certificates.
  • An offline root CA signing intermediates that issue everyday certs.
  • Removing a misbehaving root CA from trust stores to revoke broad trust.
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