BerriAI/litellm · critical · OSError

Failed to read private key file '{file_path}': {e}

Error message

Failed to read private key file '{file_path}': {e}

What it means

load_private_key_from_file catches OSError (permission denied, directory-level I/O errors, SELinux denials) while opening the key file and re-raises it with context about which file failed. It signals the file exists but the process cannot read it.

Source

Thrown at litellm/llms/oci/common_utils.py:135

    _require_cryptography()
    key: Final = serialization.load_pem_private_key(
        key_str.encode("utf-8"),
        password=None,
    )
    if not isinstance(key, rsa.RSAPrivateKey):
        raise TypeError("The provided private key is not an RSA key, which is required for OCI signing.")
    return key


def load_private_key_from_file(file_path: str) -> Any:
    """Loads a private key from a file path."""
    try:
        with open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
            key_str: Final = f.read().strip()
    except FileNotFoundError:
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"Private key file not found: {file_path}")
    except OSError as e:
        raise OSError(f"Failed to read private key file '{file_path}': {e}") from e

    if not key_str:
        raise ValueError(f"Private key file is empty: {file_path}")

    return load_private_key_from_str(key_str)


# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Env-var credential resolution
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

_OCI_REGION_ENV: Final = "OCI_REGION"
_OCI_USER_ENV: Final = "OCI_USER"
_OCI_FINGERPRINT_ENV: Final = "OCI_FINGERPRINT"
_OCI_TENANCY_ENV: Final = "OCI_TENANCY"
_OCI_KEY_FILE_ENV: Final = "OCI_KEY_FILE"
_OCI_KEY_ENV: Final = "OCI_KEY"
_OCI_COMPARTMENT_ID_ENV: Final = "OCI_COMPARTMENT_ID"

View on GitHub (pinned to 6c2dcb801b)

Solutions

1. Fix ownership/permissions: chown <appuser> key.pem; chmod 400 key.pem.
2. In Kubernetes, set securityContext.fsGroup to the group that owns the mounted secret.
3. For SELinux hosts, label the volume correctly (z/Z mount option in Docker: -v ...:/secrets:ro,z).
4. Verify as the app user: sudo -u appuser cat <keyfile>.

Example fix

# before — root-owned key, app cannot read
# docker: COPY --chown=root oci_key.pem /secrets/  → OSError

# after
# Dockerfile: COPY --chown=1000:1000 oci_key.pem /secrets/
# or run: chmod 400 + chown appuser

import os
p = os.path.expanduser(os.environ["OCI_KEY_FILE"])
assert os.path.isfile(p) and os.access(p, os.R_OK), f"cannot read key file: {p} (perms/owner?)"

try:
    litellm.completion(model="oci/...", messages=m)
except OSError as e:
    if "Failed to read private key file" in str(e):
        fix_ownership_or_die()  # chown/chmod, fsGroup, SELinux label
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Key file owned by root while the app runs as a non-root user (mode 600, uid mismatch); read-only or corrupted mount; path points at a directory component with no execute permission; SELinux/AppArmor blocking reads on the secret mount.

Common situations: Docker containers running as app user with a secret mounted as root-owned; Kubernetes secret mounted read-only with restrictive fsGroup settings; files copied with sudo leaving 600 root:root; SELinux-enabled hosts (RHEL/CoreOS) denying container access.

Related errors

• Access denied to file '{file_path}'. Check your BitBucket pe
• Access denied to directory '{directory_path}'. Check your Bi
• {e.response.text}
• The provided private key is not an RSA key, which is require
• Private key file not found: {file_path}

AI-assisted analysis of BerriAI/litellm@6c2dcb801b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/16cf43eec1b87301. Report an issue: GitHub.