gchq/CyberChef · warning · OperationError

Enter the private key of the signer.

Error message

Enter the private key of the signer.

What it means

PGPEncryptAndSign.run reads args[0] as the signer's private key. If it is falsy the operation aborts before importing any key - signing cannot proceed. This is an input-validation guard.

Source

Thrown at src/core/operations/PGPEncryptAndSign.mjs:73

                "type": "text",
                "value": ""
            }
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @param {string} input
     * @param {Object[]} args
     * @returns {string}
     *
     * @throws {OperationError} if failure to sign message
     */
    async run(input, args) {
        const message = input,
            [privateKey, passphrase, publicKey] = args;
        let signedMessage;

        if (!privateKey) throw new OperationError("Enter the private key of the signer.");
        if (!publicKey) throw new OperationError("Enter the public key of the recipient.");
        const privKey = await importPrivateKey(privateKey, passphrase);
        const pubKey = await importPublicKey(publicKey);

        try {
            signedMessage = await promisify(kbpgp.box)({
                "msg": message,
                "encrypt_for": pubKey,
                "sign_with": privKey,
                "asp": ASP
            });
        } catch (err) {
            throw new OperationError(`Couldn't sign message: ${err}`);
        }

        return signedMessage;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 4290ea7539)

Solutions

1. Provide the signer's ASCII-armoured PGP private key in the first argument.
2. If the key is passphrase-protected, also fill the passphrase field.
3. Verify the key begins with '-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----'.

const [privateKey, passphrase, publicKey] = args;
if (!privateKey || !privateKey.trim()) {
    throw new Error('Signer private key argument is required before running PGP Encrypt and Sign.');
}

const isArmouredPrivateKey = (s) =>
    typeof s === 'string' && /-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----/.test(s);

When it happens

Trigger: The 'Private key of signer' argument is empty; the args array is shorter than expected; the key text was not bound into the recipe.

Common situations: User supplied only the recipient public key and forgot the signer private key; programmatic call with a missing argument; blank UI field.

Related errors

• Enter the private key of the recipient.
• Enter the public key of the signer.
• Enter the public key of the recipient.
• Enter the private key of the signer.
• Enter the public key of the signer.

AI-assisted analysis of gchq/CyberChef@4290ea7539 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aba26d181e68b002. Report an issue: GitHub.