kubernetes/kops · error

updating encryptionconfig secret: %v

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.

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)

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: %v
• error querying cluster %q: %v
• reading encryption config %v: %v
• failed to create the encryptionconfig secret as it already e
• error adding SSH public key: %v

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