What causes "Failed to read state file attrs from %v: %v" in hashicorp/terraform?

Retry the operation — metadata errors are usually transient.

Failed to read state file attrs from

Error message

Failed to read state file attrs from %v: %v

What it means

Thrown by Get after the state bytes are read, when stateFile().Attrs(ctx) fails. The Attrs call fetches object metadata (used for the MD5 in remote.Payload); its failure means the metadata GET errored even though the content GET succeeded.

Solutions

Retry the operation — metadata errors are usually transient.
Ensure no concurrent process is deleting the state object.
Verify the service account has standard objectViewer/objectAdmin roles rather than a custom subset.
Inspect the wrapped %v to confirm the failure type.

Example fix

// no code change — retry; if persistent, eliminate concurrent state mutations

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// Pre-flight: confirm objectViewer role (covers objects.get + metadata).

Try / catch

// Retry the Attrs call; metadata-only failures are usually transient.
var attrs *storage.ObjectAttrs
for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
    attrs, err = f.Attrs(ctx)
    if err == nil { break }
    if !isTransient(err) { return err }
}

Prevention

Prefer standard IAM roles (objectViewer/objectAdmin) over narrow custom roles.
Eliminate concurrent state deletions that race the attrs read.
Treat wrapped 5xx as retryable.

When it happens

Trigger: Attrs returns an error — transient GCS metadata API failure, permission to read content but not metadata (rare but possible with custom roles), or a race where the object was deleted between the read and the attrs call.

Common situations: Concurrent `terraform apply` from another runner deletes the object mid-get; intermittent metadata API errors; custom IAM role granting objects.get but not objects.getIamPolicy-style metadata access.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/terraform@d32a084675 (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f1c6cf44f2b4f115. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/backend/remote-state/gcs/client.go:52

	ctx := context.TODO()
	stateFileReader, err := c.stateFile().NewReader(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		if err == storage.ErrObjectNotExist {
			return nil, diags
		} else {
			return nil, diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Failed to open state file at %v: %v", c.stateFileURL(), err))
		}
	}
	defer stateFileReader.Close()

	stateFileContents, err := ioutil.ReadAll(stateFileReader)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Failed to read state file from %v: %v", c.stateFileURL(), err))
	}

	stateFileAttrs, err := c.stateFile().Attrs(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, diags.Append(fmt.Errorf("Failed to read state file attrs from %v: %v", c.stateFileURL(), err))
	}

	result := &remote.Payload{
		Data: stateFileContents,
		MD5:  stateFileAttrs.MD5,
	}

	return result, diags
}

func (c *remoteClient) Put(data []byte) tfdiags.Diagnostics {
	var diags tfdiags.Diagnostics
	ctx := context.TODO()
	err := func() error {
		stateFileWriter := c.stateFile().NewWriter(ctx)
		if len(c.kmsKeyName) > 0 {
			stateFileWriter.KMSKeyName = c.kmsKeyName
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to d32a084675)