slackhq/nebula · error

error while verifying certificate v%d %s with issuer %s: %w

Error message

error while verifying certificate v%d %s with issuer %s: %w

What it means

Diagnostic wrapper in nebula-cert verify: CAPool.VerifyCertificate returned cert.ErrCaNotFound for this certificate. The wrapper enriches the sentinel with the certificate's version, name, and issuer so the user can see which cert lacks a matching CA in the pool; the sentinel is preserved with %w for errors.Is.

Source

Thrown at cmd/nebula-cert/verify.go:79

	rawCert, err := readInput("crt", *vf.certPath, &claims)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to read crt: %w", err)
	}
	var errs []error
	for {
		if len(rawCert) == 0 {
			break
		}
		c, extra, err := cert.UnmarshalCertificateFromPEM(rawCert)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error while parsing crt: %w", err)
		}
		rawCert = extra
		_, err = caPool.VerifyCertificate(time.Now(), c)
		if err != nil {
			switch {
			case errors.Is(err, cert.ErrCaNotFound):
				errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("error while verifying certificate v%d %s with issuer %s: %w", c.Version(), c.Name(), c.Issuer(), err))
			default:
				errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("error while verifying certificate %+v: %w", c, err))
			}
		}
	}

	return errors.Join(errs...)
}

func verifySummary() string {
	return "verify <flags>: verifies a certificate isn't expired and was signed by a trusted authority."
}

func verifyHelp(out io.Writer) {
	vf := newVerifyFlags()
	_, _ = out.Write([]byte("Usage of " + os.Args[0] + " " + verifySummary() + "\n"))
	_, _ = out.Write([]byte(stdioHelpText))
	vf.set.SetOutput(out)

View on GitHub (pinned to dd8f660c0a)

Solutions

1. Add the issuing CA to the CA pool used for verification (ca-crt argument)
2. Confirm the certificate's issuer name matches a CA actually in the pool
3. Collect all such errors: verification continues over the remaining certs in the file

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cmd/nebula-cert/verify.go:79 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• SSL/TLS and certificate errors — how TLS handshakes and certificate validation fail.

AI-assisted analysis of slackhq/nebula@dd8f660c0a (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a4d10896ca139e80. Report an issue: GitHub.