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cabforum
servercert
Web Development2016–2026
cabforum / servercert

servercert

Repository for the CA/Browser Forum Server Certificate Chartered Working Group

Web DevelopmentSystems & InfrastructureCommunication & Social
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
13Distinct people
19Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
241GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Repository for the CA/Browser Forum Server Certificate Chartered Working Group

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

Except it's not actually true. https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/clients.html highlights that many clients support standard SSL features without having to update to fix bugs. How…

lstamour used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 7:02:50 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year19 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2016-05-27 04:13:48 UTC to 2026-02-18 02:31:50 UTC.

02462016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments20162017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20212022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 3 submissions, 3 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC633
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

3 sources
prdonahue·Nov 2, 2016
That may be your "takeaway", but it's wrong on several fronts: 1. There's nothing "fraudulent" about providing a service explicitly permitted by our Terms of Service[0]. See S7.4: "Other changes to increase performance or security of your website." 2. Continuing on #1, the BRs[1] provide explicitly for an agent to apply for certificates on behalf of another person. Look for the defined term, "Applicant Representative" and see 3.2.2.4.7 for DNS changes as permitted for DV validation. [0] https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/ [1] https://github.com/cabforum/documents/blob/master/docs/BR.md
In Cloudflare gets wildcard certs for a domain using their DNS-only service
pfg·Jun 30, 2016
I can't believe that they not only decided not to implement ACME (the protocol behind Let's Encrypt), but also not to at least reuse large portions of ACME, like the way HTTP ownership validation was implemented. It's simply mind-boggling how they would discard a protocol that has received a lot of attention from various security experts. What's more, this design could not have been reviewed by anyone familiar with how the web works - allowing users to chose the path for HTTP domain validation is so incredibly dangerous ... sigh. If you're curious if there are any rules for CAs that describe how domain validation must be performed, the current Baseline Requirements can be summarized with "do something that's safe" on that topic. A working group within the CA/B Forum[1] is currently working on revising the document and adding explicit rule
Read the rest
s declaring which methods are permitted. I believe [2] is the latest draft. [1]: https://cabforum.org/mailman/listinfo/validation [2]: https://github.com/cabforum/documents/pull/25/files?short_pa...
In StartEncrypt considered harmful today
prdonahue·May 27, 2016
We have relationships with Comodo, DigiCert, and GlobalSign. A large part of our Universal SSL issuance is currently through Comodo, which is probably what you noticed. (We've considered acquiring our own CA or subCA in the past but the audit requirements are quite onerous, at least after the first year, and sometimes it's nice to have someone handle certain aspects for you.) The most important thing to pay attention to here, with respect to Blue Coat, is the subscriber agreement they have signed with the CA AND the CPS that they write for their auditors. It'll dictate what they are and are not allowed to do with this subCA. If these are publicly trusted certificates, they will still need to pass—at minimum—domain control validation, e.g., can BC/their customers add an arbitrary DNS record or HTTP-accessible file for the zone being issued
Read the rest
? If not, CA/B prohibits their issuance, so Symantec would get in huge trouble for allowing this. When you run your own subCA you are supposed to perform these checks yourself; it's up to their auditors (more in a sec) and Symantec to make sure they are performing these each and every time. Additionally, Blue Coat will need to pass a WebTrust audit as mandated by the CA/B Forum. The thoroughness of this audit depends on how much Blue Coat is taking over from Symantec. If they're, e.g., handling key material, the audit will be much the same the CAs themselves must do. If doing considerably less, the scope of the audit is considerably more constrained. I think these audits are released to the public as I remember Let's Encrypt doing so, but that may just be because i) they aren't a full blown directly browser trusted CA or ii) LE just decided to do so as it fits their ethos. You can find the relevant regulations that are imposed on public CAs here (look specifically for references to Subscriber Agreements): https://github.com/cabforum/documents/tree/master/docs. I'd start with the "BRs" (Baseline Requirements) doc; the other, EV Guidelines are irrelevant here, and Bylaws apply to CA/B itself. Source: I manage CloudFlare's relationship with CAs and product manage our SSL/TLS related offerings. EDIT: Added reference to CPS, the Certification Practice Statement. This document is written and provided to the auditors, and includes controls to test, etc. Here's Symantec's for example (as linked within X509v3 in crt.sh): https://www.symauth.com/cps.
In Symantec Issues Intermediate CA Certificate for Blue Coat Public Services

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