projectdiscovery/nuclei · error

cannot load metadata cache into a modified index

Error message

cannot load metadata cache into a modified index

What it means

Error "cannot load metadata cache into a modified index" thrown in projectdiscovery/nuclei.

Source

Thrown at pkg/catalog/index/index.go:265

	if err := os.Rename(tmpFile, i.cacheFile); err != nil {
		_ = os.Remove(tmpFile)

		return err
	}

	i.dirty = false

	return nil
}

// Load loads the cache from disk using gob decoding.
func (i *Index) Load() error {
	i.mu.Lock()
	defer i.mu.Unlock()

	if i.dirty {
		return errors.New("cannot load metadata cache into a modified index")
	}

	file, err := os.Open(i.cacheFile)
	if err != nil {
		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
			return nil
		}

		return err
	}
	defer func() { _ = file.Close() }()

	var snapshot cacheSnapshot

	decoder := gob.NewDecoder(file)
	if err := decoder.Decode(&snapshot); err != nil {
		_ = file.Close()
		_ = os.Remove(i.cacheFile)

View on GitHub (pinned to 265b3a3dec)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/catalog/index/index.go:265 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of projectdiscovery/nuclei@265b3a3dec (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/977e61fb66de7255. Report an issue: GitHub.