commaai/openpilot · error · ValueError

Invalid activation code format

Error message

Invalid activation code format

What it means

parse_lpa_activation_code() raises ValueError when the string does not start with 'LPA:'. The expected format is 'LPA:1$smdp.example.com$MATCHING-ID' (GSMA activation code).

Source

Thrown at openpilot/common/esim/lpa.py:614

def parse_metadata(b64_metadata: str) -> dict:
  root = find_tag(b64d(b64_metadata), TAG_PROFILE_METADATA)
  if root is None:
    raise RuntimeError("Invalid profileMetadata")
  return decode_struct(root, PROFILE)


def cancel_session(client: AtClient, transaction_id: bytes, reason: int = 127) -> str:
  content = encode_tlv(0x80, transaction_id) + encode_tlv(0x81, bytes([reason]))
  response = es10x_command(client, encode_tlv(TAG_CANCEL_SESSION, content))
  return b64e(response)


def parse_lpa_activation_code(activation_code: str) -> tuple[str, str]:
  """Parse 'LPA:1$smdp.example.com$MATCHING-ID' into (smdp_address, matching_id)."""
  if not activation_code.startswith("LPA:"):
    raise ValueError("Invalid activation code format")
  parts = activation_code[4:].split("$")
  if len(parts) != 3:
    raise ValueError("Invalid activation code format")
  return parts[1], parts[2]


def _b64_field(data: dict, key: str) -> str:
  return base64_trim(data[key])


def _cancel_session_safe(client: AtClient, smdp: str, tx_id: str, session: requests.Session) -> None:
  b64_cancel = ""
  try:
    b64_cancel = cancel_session(client, b64d(tx_id))
  except Exception:
    pass
  try:
    es9p_request(smdp, "cancelSession", {"transactionId": tx_id, "cancelSessionResponse": b64_cancel}, "CancelSession", session=session)

View on GitHub (pinned to 516ec1e682)

Solutions

1. Use a standard GSMA activation code starting with 'LPA:1$'
2. Strip whitespace/newlines from scanned QR content before passing it in
3. If only a host is available, construct the code as f"LPA:1${host}$"

Example fix

// before
download_profile(client, "smdp.example.com")

// after
download_profile(client, "LPA:1$smdp.example.com$")

def is_activation_code(s: str) -> bool:
    s = s.strip()
    return s.startswith("LPA:") and len(s[4:].split("$")) == 3

try:
    smdp, mid = parse_lpa_activation_code(code)
except ValueError:
    # prompt user to rescan QR
    ...

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an activation code like '1$smdp$mid' or a raw SM-DP+ URL without the LPA: prefix to download_profile/parse_lpa_activation_code.

Common situations: User scans a non-standard QR code; the code was copy-pasted with the prefix stripped or whitespace-prefixed; a QR containing a raw URL is used instead of an activation code.

Related errors

• Profile nickname must be 64 bytes or less
• Confirmation code required but not provided
• Profile installation failed at {cmd_name}: {err_name}
• Invalid profileMetadata
• System time is not set; TLS certificate validation requires

AI-assisted analysis of commaai/openpilot@516ec1e682 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7eebc6e72d20cca4. Report an issue: GitHub.