Defaults.Exposed › Methodology › v7 registry › CAA records
CAA records
Methodology v7 · canonical ID caa-record · DNS Security · scored · census as of July 28, 2026
Stops anyone but your chosen provider issuing SSL certificates for your domain.
Definition
| Canonical ID | caa-record |
|---|---|
| Category | DNS Security |
| Grade impact | Scored — counts toward the grade |
| Pass | The domain publishes at least one CAA record restricting certificate issuance. |
| Fail | No CAA records are published (any CA may issue). |
| Example (passing) | example.com. IN CAA 0 issue "letsencrypt.org" |
No-data rule: when this check couldn't be determined for a domain (timeout, SERVFAIL, redacted
source) it returns N/A and is excluded from that domain's scoring denominator — "couldn't determine"
is never counted as a failure. "Determined absent" is a real fail.
Prevalence across the census
1.54% of graded domains publish a CAA record (4,219,518 of 274,068,857, as of July 28, 2026).
Census denominator: 275,666,275 graded domains. Aggregates only — never an individual domain's result.
Fix it
Plain-English impact, cost of ignoring it, and step-by-step remediation: defaults.exposed/en/fix/caa
Cite this check
Defaults.Exposed, "CAA records (caa-record)", Grading Methodology v7 (census as of July 28, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/caa-record
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/v7/caa-record ·
All 34 checks: v7 registry ·
Machine-readable: checks.json ·
Licence: open data