hyperledger/fabric · error

failed serializing identity [%s][%X]

Error message

failed serializing identity [%s][%X]

What it means

NewSerializedIdentity: proto-marshalling the SerializedIdentity{Mspid, certPEM} failed (pbt.Marshal error), wrapped with the MSP ID and raw bytes for diagnosis. Marshal of this trivial message rarely fails, so it usually signals memory/corruption issues.

Source

Thrown at msp/identities.go:162

	return res
}

// Anonymous returns true if this identity provides anonymity
func (id *identity) Anonymous() bool {
	return false
}

// NewSerializedIdentity returns a serialized identity
// having as content the passed mspID and x509 certificate in PEM format.
// This method does not check the validity of certificate nor
// any consistency of the mspID with it.
func NewSerializedIdentity(mspID string, certPEM []byte) ([]byte, error) {
	// We serialize identities by prepending the MSPID
	// and appending the x509 cert in PEM format
	sId := &msp.SerializedIdentity{Mspid: mspID, IdBytes: certPEM}
	raw, err := proto.Marshal(sId)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed serializing identity [%s][%X]", mspID, certPEM)
	}
	return raw, nil
}

// Verify checks against a signature and a message
// to determine whether this identity produced the
// signature; it returns nil if so or an error otherwise
func (id *identity) Verify(msg []byte, sig []byte) error {
	// mspIdentityLogger.Infof("Verifying signature")

	digestOrMsg := msg

	// Compute Hash if not Ed25519
	// Ideally this method should be algorithm agnostic
	// but golang requires the hash for ecdsa and requires
	// the full message for ed25519
	if id.cert.PublicKeyAlgorithm != x509.Ed25519 {
		hashOpt, err := id.getHashOpt(id.msp.cryptoConfig.SignatureHashFamily)

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped proto error for the exact cause
2. Verify inputs (mspID, PEM bytes) are well-formed
3. Free resources/retry if running under memory pressure

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at msp/identities.go:162 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1603cbf553b0c556. Report an issue: GitHub.