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wildcard matching
Letting one certificate cover many hostnames by matching a pattern like *.example.com.
A TLS certificate can name a wildcard host such as *.example.com so it covers www, mail, and any other single subdomain label. Matching an actual hostname against such a pattern must follow strict rules — the wildcard covers only one level and only in the leftmost position — or it becomes a security hole. Bounded wildcards mean the matching enforces those limits rather than allowing over-broad matches.
See also
- X.509The standard format for digital certificates that bind an identity to a public key.
- trust anchorThe known-good root certificate that a chain of certificates must ultimately trace back to before you'll trust it.
- zsecThe project's self-contained security core, built without relying on outside libraries.