A recent analysis of digital certificate vulnerabilities reveals widespread security risks that could undermine organizational trust. In their Breaking Digital Trust Report, Keyfactor researchers examined half a million certificates to assess the prevalence of security flaws. Their investigation found that over 18%—91,239 out of 504,736 certificates—contained at least one significant risk factor.

The Critical Role of Digital Certificates

Digital certificates serve as the bedrock of machine identity management, enabling secure connections across networks, cloud services, and applications. These cryptographic credentials validate the identity of users, servers, or devices and are issued by Certificate Authorities (CAs) that vouch for their authenticity. Effective machine identity management—the process of overseeing these digital IDs—is essential for securing communications, supporting digital transformation, and maintaining operational integrity.

Prevalent Certificate Risks

The study categorized security flaws into four primary types:

• Cryptographic compromise: Weaknesses that undermine the security of an encryption key.
• Validation failure: Errors that prevent a certificate from being properly verified.
• Policy error: Misconfigurations suggesting CA mismanagement.
• Trust violation: Flaws in the trust hierarchy that risk the entire Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

Specific issues uncovered include:

• Excessive Lifespans: Approximately 1 in 13 certificates were valid for more than two years—some even set to expire millennia in the future—increasing the potential damage if keys are compromised.
• Negative Serial Numbers: Found in 1 of every 27 certificates, these may indicate lax issuance practices.
• Unspecified Key Usage: 1 in 29 certificates lacked defined usage parameters, potentially allowing malicious use such as malware signing.
• Missing Basic Constraints: Absent in 1 of every 32 certificates, this omission risks CA misuse and PKI-wide compromise.
• Oversized Certificates: Some individual certificates approached size limits that could cause system recognition failures.

Implications for Security

These defects—especially missing basic constraints and unspecified key usage—represent critical threats capable of compromising entire PKI systems. The findings highlight the need for greater certificate visibility and proactive management to uphold digital trust, prevent cyber incidents, and ensure compliance. For security leaders, the report underscores that maintaining cryptographic hygiene is not merely best practice, but a necessity in safeguarding modern digital infrastructure.