alibaba/canal · error · RuntimeException

auth : {} is failed

Error message

auth : {} is failed

What it means

Thrown by canalConfigPoll() (GET /server_polling) when auth(user, passwd) returns false — the request's user/passwd headers don't satisfy the admin's configured credentials. Returns a generic RuntimeException.

Source

Thrown at admin/admin-web/src/main/java/com/alibaba/otter/canal/admin/controller/PollingConfigController.java:48

    String                      user;

    @Value(value = "${canal.adminPasswd}")
    String                      passwd;

    @Autowired
    PollingConfigService        pollingConfigService;

    /**
     * 获取server全局配置
     */
    @GetMapping(value = "/server_polling")
    public BaseModel<CanalConfig> canalConfigPoll(@RequestHeader String user, @RequestHeader String passwd,
                                                  @RequestParam String ip, @RequestParam Integer port,
                                                  @RequestParam String md5, @RequestParam boolean register,
                                                  @RequestParam String cluster, @RequestParam String name,
                                                  @PathVariable String env) {
        if (!auth(user, passwd)) {
            throw new RuntimeException("auth :" + user + " is failed");
        }

        if (StringUtils.isEmpty(md5) && register) {
            // do something
            pollingConfigService.autoRegister(ip, port, cluster, StringUtils.trimToNull(name));
        }

        CanalConfig canalConfig = pollingConfigService.getChangedConfig(ip, port, md5);
        return BaseModel.getInstance(canalConfig);
    }

    /**
     * 获取单个instance的配置
     */
    @GetMapping(value = "/instance_polling/{destination}")
    public BaseModel<CanalInstanceConfig> instanceConfigPoll(@RequestHeader String user, @RequestHeader String passwd,
                                                             @PathVariable String env,
                                                             @PathVariable String destination, @RequestParam String md5) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 87be50e876)

Solutions

1. Set identical canal.adminUser and canal.adminPasswd on canal-admin and every canal-server polling it.
2. Ensure the polling client actually sends the user/passwd request headers.
3. Trim/normalize credential values to avoid whitespace mismatch.
4. Note: if admin's configured passwd is empty, auth() allows any user — confirm that is not masking a config omission.

// Polling client: send matching credentials
HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.set("user", adminUser);
headers.set("passwd", adminPasswd);
if (StringUtils.isBlank(adminUser) || StringUtils.isBlank(adminPasswd)) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("admin credentials required for polling");
}

When it happens

Trigger: A canal-server polling for global config sends wrong/missing user or passwd headers; auth() compares them against the admin's this.user/this.passwd and fails, throwing 'auth :<user> is failed'.

Common situations: canal-server's canal.adminUser/canal.adminPasswd differ from canal-admin's; headers not sent by the polling client; trailing whitespace in the header value; password regenerated on one side only.

Related errors

• something goes wrong when doing authentication: {}
• canal.adminPasswd is empty , pls check https://github.com/al
• unexpected packet type when ack is expected
• canal.adminUser is empty , pls check https://github.com/alib
• unsupported version at this client.

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/canal@87be50e876 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b72d81b337014b9c. Report an issue: GitHub.