PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - Version 2.04, by Dr. Herong Yang
Certificate Trust Settings in Firefox 35
This section provides a tutorial example on how to view certificate trust settings in Firefox 35. A root CA certificate can not be removed from Firefox 35. But its trust settings can be removed.
In the last tutorial, I got an error when try to import a root CA certificate that I deleted previously. The error message says that "This certificate already installed as a certificate authority."
Now let's find out why a deleted root CA certificate is still considered as installed in Firefox 35.
1. Check to see if "VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G5" certificate is still in Firefox 35 or not:
2. Check to see if Firefox is still giving me the certificate validation error or not:
3. View the "VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G5" certificate again:
Now I know the answer. When a root CA certificate is deleted, it is not removed from Firefox 35 at all. Firefox 35 only removes those trust settings associated with the certificate as shown in the picture below:
Because checkbox "This certificate can identify web sites" is unchecked, Firefox 35 will not use the "VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority - G5" certificate to validate "login.yahoo.com" certificate. This is why I was getting the certificate validation error.
Obviously, to fix the certificate validation error, I need to reset checkbox "This certificate can identify web sites" and click OK.
Conclusion: A root CA certificate can not be removed from Firefox 35. But its trust settings can be removed.
Last update: 2015.
Table of Contents
Introduction of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
Using HTTPS with IE (Internet Explorer) 10
Visiting "https" Web Site with Firefox 35
Viewing Server Certificate in Firefox 35
Server Certificate General Information
Viewing Server Certificate Path in Firefox 35
Exporting Server Certificate to File in Firefox 35
Viewing Pre-Installed Certificates in Firefox 35
Listing of Trusted Root CA in Firefox 35
Exporting Certificate to File from Firefox 35
Deleting Root CA Certificates from Firefox 35
Firefox 35 Displaying Certificate Error Page
Adding Security Exception in Firefox 35
Failing to Import Root CA Certificates to Firefox 35
►Certificate Trust Settings in Firefox 35
Perl Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
PHP Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
Java Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
Certificate Stores and Certificate Console
.NET Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
CAcert.org - Root CA Offering Free Certificates
PKI CA Administration - Issuing Certificates
Digital Signature - Microsoft Word 2007
Digital Signature - OpenOffice.org 3