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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

Certificate Revocation List (CRL)

CA-signed list of serial numbers of certificates that have been revoked before their expiration date.

Definition

Clients download CRLs from CRL distribution points listed in certificates to check revocation status. CRLs can grow large and are only as current as their publication interval. Delta CRLs contain changes since the last base CRL.

Example

A certificate whose private key was stolen is added to the CA's CRL with reason code keyCompromise.

Exam tip

CRLs are periodic and can be stale; OCSP provides near-real-time status.

Don't confuse it with

Related terms