kubernetes/kops · error

kops-controller returned status code %d: %s

Error message

kops-controller returned status code %d: %s

What it means

kops-controller answered the bootstrap request with a non-OK, non-Conflict status; the first line of the response body is included as detail. Conflict is handled separately (graceful exit), so this is a server-side rejection such as 403 for an untrusted node token.

Source

Thrown at pkg/kopscontrollerclient/client.go:178

		if response.Body != nil {
			response.Body.Close()
		}
		os.Exit(0)
	}

	if response.Body != nil {
		defer response.Body.Close()
	}

	if response.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		detail := ""
		if response.Body != nil {
			scanner := bufio.NewScanner(response.Body)
			if scanner.Scan() {
				detail = scanner.Text()
			}
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("kops-controller returned status code %d: %s", response.StatusCode, detail)
	}

	return json.NewDecoder(response.Body).Decode(resp)
}

func (b *Client) Close() {
	if b.httpClient != nil {
		b.httpClient.CloseIdleConnections()
	}
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Map the status code: 403 usually means the node's token was rejected (clock skew, unknown signing key)
2. Check kops-controller logs for the rejected request
3. Re-run nodeup on the node after fixing the cause

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/kopscontrollerclient/client.go:178 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9f2227874b8dcef4. Report an issue: GitHub.