# Trusted root CA details should be retrievable

Trusted Root Certification Authorities (CAs) define which certificate chains are trusted for AD-integrated scenarios.

Source: https://maester.dev/docs/tests/AD-CFG-17

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<div class="test-byline"><div class="test-byline-avatars"><a class="test-byline-avatar test-byline-avatar--author" href="/contributors/soulemike" title="Michael Soule · Original author"><img src="https://github.com/soulemike.png" alt="Michael Soule" width="28" height="28" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /></a></div><div class="test-byline-meta"><span class="test-byline-text">Contributed by <a href="/contributors/soulemike">Michael Soule</a></span><a class="test-byline-link" href="/contributors">All contributors →</a></div></div>

<p class="test-part">Part of <a href="/docs/tests/ad">Active Directory</a> · Active Directory · Certificate Services · <a href="/docs/tests">All checks</a></p>

```powershell title="Run this check"
Invoke-Maester -TestId AD-CFG-17
```

## Overview

Trusted Root Certification Authorities (CAs) define which certificate chains are trusted for AD-integrated scenarios. If an unauthorized or misconfigured trusted root certificate is present, attackers may be able to mint certificates that validate in your environment.

This test focuses on the *details* of trusted root CAs, including certificate validity, to help detect:
- Expired root certificates that can break trust and authentication flows
- Unexpected/unauthorized root certificates that broaden your trust boundaries

#### Control Type

**Operational**

#### Security Recommendation
- Verify each trusted root CA certificate matches your approved public key infrastructure (PKI) inventory.
- Remove (or revoke and clean up) any trusted root CA entries that are not explicitly authorized.
- Establish monitoring/alerting for certificates approaching expiration so you can renew before outages occur.
- If roots were added during maintenance, record change tickets and validate thumbprints/subjects.

#### How the Test Works
The test enumerates trusted root CA certificates configured for AD (or in the module’s AD configuration view), extracts identifying attributes (e.g., subject/issuer and thumbprint) and certificate validity dates, and reports which trusted roots are present and whether they are within their expected validity window.

#### Related Tests
- [Test-MtAdTrustedRootCaCount](/docs/commands/Test-MtAdTrustedRootCaCount)

## Details

<details>
<summary>Every attribute of this check</summary>

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Test ID | AD-CFG-17 |
| Severity | Info |
| Suite | Active Directory |
| Product | Active Directory |
| Feature | Certificate Services |
| Area | Infrastructure hardening |
| Resource type | CertificateAuthority |
| MITRE ATT&CK | None |
| PowerShell test | [Test-MtAdTrustedRootCaDetails](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/ad/config/Test.AD-CFG-17.ps1) |
| Services | ActiveDirectory |
| Permissions | ActiveDirectory:Ldap:Configuration/*:ReadProperty |

</details>

## Source

- Test: [`tests/ad/config/Test.AD-CFG-17.ps1`](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/ad/config/Test.AD-CFG-17.ps1)
- Documentation: [`tests/ad/config/Test.AD-CFG-17.md`](https://github.com/maester365/maester/blob/main/tests/ad/config/Test.AD-CFG-17.md)