MetricSign
Start free
High severityauthentication

Power BI Error:
AADSTS220501

What does this error mean?

Azure AD / Entra ID could not download the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) needed to validate a client certificate during authentication.

Common causes

  • 1The CRL Distribution Point (CDP) URL inside the client certificate is unreachable, returns HTTP errors, or has expired
  • 2Network/firewall blocking outbound access from the Entra ID validation path to the CA's CRL endpoint
  • 3Certificate Authority (CA) has published an outdated or malformed CRL file
  • 4Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA) configured with a CA whose CRL is not properly hosted or accessible from the public internet
  • 5DNS resolution failure for the CRL host, or TLS issues on the CRL endpoint

How to fix it

  1. 1Open the client certificate and locate the 'CRL Distribution Points' extension — copy the URL and try downloading the CRL from a public network with curl/browser to confirm it returns a valid CRL file
  2. 2If the CRL URL is unreachable or stale, contact the Certificate Authority owner to republish the CRL and ensure the CDP endpoint is publicly reachable over HTTP (port 80) — Entra ID validates CRLs over HTTP, not HTTPS
  3. 3In the Microsoft Entra admin center, go to Protection → Certificate authorities, verify the uploaded CA certificate, and confirm the CRL URL field matches a working endpoint
  4. 4Check the CRL's 'Next Update' timestamp — if it has passed, the CA must publish a fresh CRL before authentication will succeed
  5. 5If using a private/internal CA for Entra CBA, expose the CRL via a publicly reachable HTTP endpoint (Azure Blob Storage with anonymous read is a common pattern)

Frequently asked questions

What does AADSTS220501 mean?

InvalidCrlDownload

How do I fix this error?

Check your application registration, token configuration, and user permissions in the Azure portal. Review Conditional Access policies if the error is policy-related.

Source · learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity-platform/reference-error-codes#aadsts-error-codes

Other authentication errors