A certificate management operation request is managed on a device, access to which is governed by an authentication certificate. Upon receiving a request to perform a certificate management operation on a certificate, a consequence of performing the certificate management operation is determined and the consequence is indicated via a user interface of the device. For example, anytime a user attempts to use a certificate management application to delete, distrust or revoke a certificate, it is determined whether the certificate meets certain criteria, such as the certificate being the authentication certificate or being in the certificate chain of the authentication certificate. If the certificate meets the criteria, the user may be notified of a lack of permission to perform the requested operation and the operation may be prevented from completing. Alternatively, the user may be permitted to confirm the instruction to perform the requested operation, and the operation may be completed.