ruby/rubygems · error · Gem::Security::Exception

empty signing chain

Error message

empty signing chain

What it means

Error "empty signing chain" thrown in ruby/rubygems.

Source

Thrown at lib/rubygems/security/policy.rb:58

    policy.each_pair do |key, val|
      case key
      when :verify_data   then @verify_data   = val
      when :verify_signer then @verify_signer = val
      when :verify_chain  then @verify_chain  = val
      when :verify_root   then @verify_root   = val
      when :only_trusted  then @only_trusted  = val
      when :only_signed   then @only_signed   = val
      end
    end
  end

  ##
  # Verifies each certificate in +chain+ has signed the following certificate
  # and is valid for the given +time+.

  def check_chain(chain, time)
    raise Gem::Security::Exception, "missing signing chain" unless chain
    raise Gem::Security::Exception, "empty signing chain" if chain.empty?

    begin
      chain.each_cons 2 do |issuer, cert|
        check_cert cert, issuer, time
      end

      true
    rescue Gem::Security::Exception => e
      raise Gem::Security::Exception, "invalid signing chain: #{e.message}"
    end
  end

  ##
  # Verifies that +data+ matches the +signature+ created by +public_key+ and
  # the +digest+ algorithm.

  def check_data(public_key, digest, signature, data)
    raise Gem::Security::Exception, "invalid signature" unless

View on GitHub (pinned to 86cbb817a3)

Solutions

1. The gem's certificate chain is empty; re-sign the gem with a valid certificate

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/rubygems/security/policy.rb:58 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ruby/rubygems@86cbb817a3 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48b8e21e312e5856. Report an issue: GitHub.