kubernetes/kops · error

updating encryptionconfig secret

Error message

updating encryptionconfig secret: %v

What it means

Returned when the secret store's `ReplaceSecret` fails while overwriting the `encryptionconfig` secret in `--force` mode. This wraps storage-layer errors from the state store backend (unreachable, permission denied, write conflict), meaning the replacement of the existing secret did not succeed.

Solutions

1. Verify credentials allow WRITE to the state store bucket (`aws s3 cp` a test object).
2. Check no concurrent kOps process is modifying the cluster and retry the command.
3. Confirm the bucket is not read-only / object-Lock or retention policies are not blocking overwrites.

Example fix

// before: policy with only s3:GetObject on the state bucket
// after: grant s3:PutObject on arn:aws:s3:::my-kops-bucket/* then rerun
kops create secret encryptionconfig --name c.example.com enc.yaml --force

// verify write access to state store first
execSync(`aws s3 cp /dev/stdin ${stateStore}/.write-test` , { input: 'x', stdio: 'inherit' });

try {
  runKops(['create','secret','encryptionconfig', cluster, path, '--force']);
} catch (e) {
  if (/updating encryptionconfig secret/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error('Replace failed; check bucket write perms and concurrent runs, then retry.');
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `kops create secret encryptionconfig --force` where the state store write fails: missing write permissions on the bucket, expired credentials, read-only bucket, or transient backend/network failure during the atomic replace.

Common situations: IAM policy grants read but not write on the KOPS state bucket; S3 bucket versioning/ACL conflicts; expired cloud credentials in CI; concurrent kOps runs causing a write race on the same secret.

Related errors

• adding encryptionconfig secret
• error adding SSH public key
• error querying cluster
• failed to create the encryptionconfig secret as it already…
• listing secrets

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/821a036d7c075950. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/kops/create_secret_encryptionconfig.go:136

		return fmt.Errorf("unable to parse YAML %v: %v", options.EncryptionConfigPath, err)
	}

	secret := &fi.Secret{
		Data: data,
	}

	if !options.Force {
		_, created, err := secretStore.GetOrCreateSecret(ctx, "encryptionconfig", secret)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("adding encryptionconfig secret: %v", err)
		}
		if !created {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create the encryptionconfig secret as it already exists. Pass the `--force` flag to replace an existing secret")
		}
	} else {
		_, err := secretStore.ReplaceSecret("encryptionconfig", secret)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("updating encryptionconfig secret: %v", err)
		}
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)