alt Hacker NewseMudhra is also a root CA operator. One root CA operator cross-signing another root CA operator is a good thing actually, and it's what allowed Let's Encrypt to work before their root certificate was widely trusted.
Issuing sub CAs to non-root operators has historically been a big loophole though it's not as bad these days since multiple root programs now require approval before CAs can do it.
Didn't Let's Encrypt have to jump through all sorts of hoops to prove they were competent and trustworthy before that happened?
Now it's coming out these guys used "4" as a private key. That's a crazy amount of incompetence and malfeasance. Did they vibe-code a CA? HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? I am dumbfounded.
You couldn't even do this if you installed Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 today, unpatched, with the CA on default settings.