diff --git a/trustpinning/certs.go b/trustpinning/certs.go
index 7711903e6..b777a3fc8 100644
--- a/trustpinning/certs.go
+++ b/trustpinning/certs.go
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/notary/tuf/utils"
 )
 
+const wildcard = "*"
+
 // ErrValidationFail is returned when there is no valid trusted certificates
 // being served inside of the roots.json
 type ErrValidationFail struct {
@@ -175,6 +177,17 @@ func ValidateRoot(prevRoot *data.SignedRoot, root *data.Signed, gun string, trus
 	return data.RootFromSigned(root)
 }
 
+// MatchCNToGun checks that the common name in a cert is valid for the given gun.
+// This allows wildcards as suffixes, e.g. `namespace/*`
+func MatchCNToGun(commonName, gun string) bool {
+	if strings.HasSuffix(commonName, wildcard) {
+		prefix := strings.TrimRight(commonName, wildcard)
+		logrus.Debugf("checking gun %s against wildcard prefix %s", gun, prefix)
+		return strings.HasPrefix(gun, prefix)
+	}
+	return commonName == gun
+}
+
 // validRootLeafCerts returns a list of possibly (if checkExpiry is true) non-expired, non-sha1 certificates
 // found in root whose Common-Names match the provided GUN. Note that this
 // "validity" alone does not imply any measure of trust.
@@ -183,8 +196,8 @@ func validRootLeafCerts(allLeafCerts map[string]*x509.Certificate, gun string, c
 
 	// Go through every leaf certificate and check that the CN matches the gun
 	for id, cert := range allLeafCerts {
-		// Validate that this leaf certificate has a CN that matches the exact gun
-		if cert.Subject.CommonName != gun {
+		// Validate that this leaf certificate has a CN that matches the gun
+		if !MatchCNToGun(cert.Subject.CommonName, gun) {
 			logrus.Debugf("error leaf certificate CN: %s doesn't match the given GUN: %s",
 				cert.Subject.CommonName, gun)
 			continue
diff --git a/trustpinning/certs_test.go b/trustpinning/certs_test.go
index 8a0d3e783..cbb36e67a 100644
--- a/trustpinning/certs_test.go
+++ b/trustpinning/certs_test.go
@@ -1299,3 +1299,79 @@ func TestValidateRootWithExpiredIntermediate(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 	require.Error(t, err, "failed to invalidate expired intermediate certificate")
 }
+
+func TestCheckingWildcardCert(t *testing.T) {
+	memStore := trustmanager.NewKeyMemoryStore(passphraseRetriever)
+	cs := cryptoservice.NewCryptoService(memStore)
+	testPubKey, err := cs.Create(data.CanonicalRootRole, "docker.io/notary/*", data.ECDSAKey)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	testPrivKey, _, err := memStore.GetKey(testPubKey.ID())
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	testCert, err := generateTestingCertificate(testPrivKey, "docker.io/notary/*", notary.Year)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	testCertPubKey, err := utils.ParsePEMPublicKey(utils.CertToPEM(testCert))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	rootRole, err := data.NewRole(data.CanonicalRootRole, 1, []string{testCertPubKey.ID()}, nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	testRoot, err := data.NewRoot(
+		map[string]data.PublicKey{testCertPubKey.ID(): testCertPubKey},
+		map[string]*data.RootRole{
+			data.CanonicalRootRole:      &rootRole.RootRole,
+			data.CanonicalTimestampRole: &rootRole.RootRole,
+			data.CanonicalTargetsRole:   &rootRole.RootRole,
+			data.CanonicalSnapshotRole:  &rootRole.RootRole},
+		false,
+	)
+	testRoot.Signed.Version = 1
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to create new root")
+
+	signedTestRoot, err := testRoot.ToSigned()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	err = signed.Sign(cs, signedTestRoot, []data.PublicKey{testCertPubKey}, 1, nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = trustpinning.ValidateRoot(
+		nil,
+		signedTestRoot,
+		"docker.io/notary/test",
+		trustpinning.TrustPinConfig{},
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err, "expected wildcard cert to validate")
+
+	_, err = trustpinning.ValidateRoot(
+		nil,
+		signedTestRoot,
+		"docker.io/not-a-match",
+		trustpinning.TrustPinConfig{},
+	)
+	require.Error(t, err, "expected wildcard cert not to validate")
+}
+
+func TestWildcardMatching(t *testing.T) {
+	var wildcardTests = []struct {
+		CN  string
+		gun string
+		out bool
+	}{
+		{"docker.com/*", "docker.com/notary", true},
+		{"docker.com/**", "docker.com/notary", true},
+		{"*", "docker.com/any", true},
+		{"*", "", true},
+		{"**", "docker.com/any", true},
+		{"test/*******", "test/many/wildcard", true},
+		{"test/**/*/", "test/test", false},
+		{"test/*/wild", "test/test/wild", false},
+		{"*/all", "test/all", false},
+		{"docker.com/*/*", "docker.com/notary/test", false},
+		{"docker.com/*/**", "docker.com/notary/test", false},
+		{"", "*", false},
+		{"*abc*", "abc", false},
+		{"test/*/wild*", "test/test/wild", false},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range wildcardTests {
+		require.Equal(t, trustpinning.MatchCNToGun(tt.CN, tt.gun), tt.out)
+	}
+}