Unable to Delete Self-signed root certificate

[nemofish]

I created a Self-signed root certificate for Adobe Acrobat so I could sign some PDFs.

I think noticed mail.app was trying to certify all my outgoing emails and failing.

I removed this certificate via keychain but it just comes right back and my emails continue to have errors about not being able to verify this message.

How can I stop mail from trying to use it? I don't want to sign my emails.

 

[bogdanw]

Certificates can be removed from Terminal with:
sudo security delete-certificate -c 'Certificate Name'
Self-signed certificates might be added to two different keychains (system & login), so you need to run the command twice.
Be careful with writing the exact name, to avoid deleting other certificates by mistake.

 

[nemofish]

Thanks but it just comes straight back again.

 

[DeltaMac]

Are you saying that the actual certificate returns, after you have physically deleted the certificate (and you can see that the file is gone by checking in its previous locations), but the actual certificate file returns?
Or, are you saying that you continue to get the same notification about verifying messages, meaning that the Mail app is trying to use a certificate that no longer exists on your Mac?
Check in Mail/Preferences. Maybe this is as simple as removing a rule (that calls for the certificate?)

 

[nemofish]

The actual certificate returns. Even without a restart of mail or my mac mini. It just comes back after 10 mins or so.

I have deleted from terminal and several times through keychain.

 

[bogdanw]

That’s strange because adding/removing certificates should require entering your password. How din you create it and add it in the first place?

 

[nemofish]

It was created inside Adobe Acrobat when I needed to sign a PDF digitally.

It then added itself to mail.app, I seem to recall Mail.app asking if it should use this certificate and I stupidly said "OK" without realising what it meant.

To be honest I am not bothered about the certificate as such as I will likely use again for PDF signing, but the mail warning is what I would really like to remove.

 

[bogdanw]

Take a look here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-remove-digital-signature/td-p/11567555

 

[nemofish]

Thank you but the certificates don't appear in Acrobat since I removed them the first time. Even though they appear in keychain and mail...

I am due to upgrade to macOS Monterey this weekend, so hopefully that will help.

I may even clean install.

 

[cmbarrett]

Thank you but the certificates don't appear in Acrobat since I removed them the first time. Even though they appear in keychain and mail...

I am due to upgrade to macOS Monterey this weekend, so hopefully that will help.

I may even clean install.

Nemofish - did you ever get a resolution to this? I have the same issue on one of our work computers and the certificate just keeps being added back in. I have deleted the cert from Adobe, reinstalled Adobe, run all system updates, constantly deleted from keychain, and still the problem persists.

 

[vuzz]

Same problem, can’t delete it no matter what. Anyone find a solutio?

 

[sparkhill]

Old thread, but I encountered this issue and could not find a solution. After trying several things, I think I solved it by un-clicking the option to digitally sign email (screenshot below). It makes sense that this was probably accidentally clicked at some point. With digital signing unchecked, you do not need to delete the certificate.

 

[Nev Hoffman]

I think you solved it sparkhill - thank you! I was able to unlock/unembed the signature just by clicking on the blue checkmark. See screen shots - the one on the left is what I unchecked and it finally removed the encrypted signature certificate:

 

[cuka]

Thank you @sparkhill!! When I was signing a PDF recently, I must have created a self-signed certificate that was then automatically picked up by Apple Mail. It was not signed by a third party, so started causing email sending issues. (But it was sufficient to sign a pdf.)

 

[sparkhill]

Thank you @sparkhill!! When I was signing a PDF recently, I must have created a self-signed certificate that was then automatically picked up by Apple Mail. It was not signed by a third party, so started causing email sending issues. (But it was sufficient to sign a pdf.)

I am glad you got it sorted out!