Error: "The certificate cannot be dropped because one or more entities are either signed or encrypted using it."

Question

I have a certificate I would like to remove from the database.

If I issue the command

DROP CERTIFICATE <FooCert>

I get the error

The certificate cannot be dropped because one or more entities are either signed or encrypted using it

According to Jason Strate, I should be able to find out what's signed by the certificate.

The following query returns 0 rows:

SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(co.major_id) + '.' + OBJECT_NAME(co.major_id)
FROM sys.certificates c 
INNER JOIN sys.crypt_properties co ON c.thumbprint = co.thumbprint
WHERE co.crypt_type_desc = 'SIGNATURE BY CERTIFICATE' 
AND c.name = 'FooCert'

I've also tried decoupling the entities per this SO question. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52460/how-do-i-find-and-decouple-entities-from-a-certificate-when-upgrading-ms-sqlserv

How can I remove the dependencies on this cert so I can remove it?

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:42

To find items associated with Certificates and Asymmetric Keys, first try the query posted in this DBA.SE Answer:

Find signed procedures, functions, triggers, assemblies and by which certificates / asymmetric keys

If that does not return any objects, next try the following queries which look for:

Logins
Users
Service Broker Endpoints
Database Mirroring Endpoints
Symmetric Keys
Database Encryption Keys (used for TDE)

Please note that Logins are Server/Instance-level while everything else is Database-level. Also, Database Encryption Keys, while being at the Database-level, are reported in a DMV that returns data for all databases, and so does not change based on the "current" Database.

-- Server / Instance Logins (results not sensitive to local / current Database)
;WITH certs_n_keys AS
(
  SELECT 'Certifcate' AS [Type], crts.name, crts.certificate_id AS [cert_or_asymkey_id],
         crts.principal_id, crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid],
         crts.thumbprint
  FROM   [master].sys.certificates crts
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Asymmetric Key' AS [Type], asym.name, asym.asymmetric_key_id AS
         [cert_or_asymkey_id], asym.principal_id, asym.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc,
         asym.[sid], asym.thumbprint
  FROM   [master].sys.asymmetric_keys asym
)
SELECT cnk.*, '---' AS [---],
       sp.[name] AS [PrincipalName], sp.principal_id, sp.type_desc,
       sp.create_date, sp.modify_date
FROM   certs_n_keys cnk
INNER JOIN sys.server_principals sp
        ON sp.[sid] = cnk.[sid];


-- Database Users
;WITH certs_n_keys AS
(
  SELECT 'Certifcate' AS [Type], crts.name, crts.certificate_id AS [cert_or_asymkey_id],
         crts.principal_id, crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid],
         crts.thumbprint
  FROM   sys.certificates crts
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 'Asymmetric Key' AS [Type], asym.name, asym.asymmetric_key_id AS
         [cert_or_asymkey_id], asym.principal_id, asym.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc,
         asym.[sid], asym.thumbprint
  FROM   sys.asymmetric_keys asym
)
SELECT cnk.*, '---' AS [---],
       dp.[name] AS [PrincipalName], dp.principal_id, dp.type_desc,
       dp.create_date, dp.modify_date
FROM   certs_n_keys cnk
INNER JOIN sys.database_principals dp
        ON dp.[sid] = cnk.[sid];


-- Service Broker Endpoints
SELECT crts.name, crts.certificate_id, crts.principal_id,
       crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid], crts.thumbprint, '---' AS [---],
       endpts.*
FROM   sys.certificates crts
INNER JOIN sys.service_broker_endpoints endpts
        ON endpts.certificate_id = crts.certificate_id;


-- Database Mirroring Endpoints
SELECT crts.name, crts.certificate_id, crts.principal_id,
       crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid], crts.thumbprint, '---' AS [---],
       endpts.*
FROM   sys.certificates crts
INNER JOIN sys.database_mirroring_endpoints endpts
        ON endpts.certificate_id = crts.certificate_id;


-- Symmetric Keys (scroll results to the right to see Key name)
SELECT crts.name, crts.certificate_id, crts.principal_id,
       crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid], crts.thumbprint, '---' AS [---],
       ncrptns.*, '---' AS [---], symkys.*
FROM   sys.certificates crts
INNER JOIN sys.key_encryptions ncrptns
        ON ncrptns.[thumbprint] = crts.[thumbprint]
INNER JOIN sys.symmetric_keys symkys
        ON symkys.[symmetric_key_id] = ncrptns.[key_id];


-- Database Encryption Keys (for TDE; results not sensitive to local / current Database)
SELECT crts.name, crts.certificate_id, crts.principal_id,
       crts.pvt_key_encryption_type_desc, crts.[sid], crts.thumbprint, '---' AS [---],
       DB_NAME(dbkeys.[database_id]) AS [DatabaseName], dbkeys.*
FROM   [master].sys.certificates crts
INNER JOIN sys.dm_database_encryption_keys dbkeys
        ON dbkeys.[encryptor_thumbprint] = crts.[thumbprint];

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 20 '16 at 14:05

Encountered a similar issue, for me this query helped me find the signed object:

SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(co.major_id) + '.' + OBJECT_NAME(co.major_id), c.name 
FROM sys.certificates c 
INNER JOIN sys.crypt_properties co ON c.thumbprint = co.thumbprint
WHERE co.crypt_type_desc = 'SIGNATURE BY CERTIFICATE'

Source

Then I just used the following command as an example where dbo.sp_name is the signed object and STOREDPROCEDURESIGNINGCERT is the signing certificate.

DROP SIGNATURE FROM OBJECT::dbo.sp_name BY CERTIFICATE STOREDPROCEDURESIGNINGCERT

Error: "The certificate cannot be dropped because one or more entities are either signed or encrypted using it."

2 Answers2