caddyserver/caddy · error

encoding intermediate key: %v

Error message

encoding intermediate key: %v

What it means

Error "encoding intermediate key: %v" thrown in caddyserver/caddy.

Source

Thrown at modules/caddypki/ca.go:400

func (ca CA) genIntermediate(rootCert *x509.Certificate, rootKey crypto.Signer) (interCert *x509.Certificate, interKey crypto.Signer, err error) {
	repl := ca.newReplacer()

	interCert, interKey, err = generateIntermediate(repl.ReplaceAll(ca.IntermediateCommonName, ""), rootCert, rootKey, time.Duration(ca.IntermediateLifetime))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("generating CA intermediate: %v", err)
	}
	interCertPEM, err := pemEncodeCert(interCert.Raw)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("encoding intermediate certificate: %v", err)
	}
	err = ca.storage.Store(ca.ctx, ca.storageKeyIntermediateCert(), interCertPEM)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("saving intermediate certificate: %v", err)
	}
	interKeyPEM, err := certmagic.PEMEncodePrivateKey(interKey)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("encoding intermediate key: %v", err)
	}
	err = ca.storage.Store(ca.ctx, ca.storageKeyIntermediateKey(), interKeyPEM)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("saving intermediate key: %v", err)
	}

	return interCert, interKey, nil
}

func (ca CA) storageKeyCAPrefix() string {
	return path.Join("pki", "authorities", certmagic.StorageKeys.Safe(ca.ID))
}

func (ca CA) storageKeyRootCert() string {
	return path.Join(ca.storageKeyCAPrefix(), "root.crt")
}

func (ca CA) storageKeyRootKey() string {

View on GitHub (pinned to 50e54ee279)

Solutions

1. This indicates an internal encoding failure; check the wrapped error and storage backend health.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at modules/caddypki/ca.go:400 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of caddyserver/caddy@50e54ee279 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3144e9d3eda41ef. Report an issue: GitHub.