slackhq/nebula · error

ErrPublicPrivateCurveMismatch

ErrPublicPrivateCurveMismatch

Error message

public key does not match private key curve

What it means

Sentinel error ErrPublicPrivateCurveMismatch returned by certificateV2.VerifyPrivateKey when the curve argument supplied by the caller does not equal the curve stored in the certificate (c.curve). It fires before any key comparison: the caller passed a private key generated on a different curve (e.g. P256 key against a CURVE25519 cert) than the one the certificate's public key uses.

Source

Thrown at cert/errors.go:19

package cert

import (
	"errors"
	"fmt"
)

var (
	ErrBadFormat                  = errors.New("bad wire format")
	ErrRootExpired                = errors.New("root certificate is expired")
	ErrExpired                    = errors.New("certificate is expired")
	ErrNotCA                      = errors.New("certificate is not a CA")
	ErrNotSelfSigned              = errors.New("certificate is not self-signed")
	ErrBlockListed                = errors.New("certificate is in the block list")
	ErrFingerprintMismatch        = errors.New("certificate fingerprint did not match")
	ErrSignatureMismatch          = errors.New("certificate signature did not match")
	ErrInvalidPublicKey           = errors.New("invalid public key")
	ErrInvalidPrivateKey          = errors.New("invalid private key")
	ErrPublicPrivateCurveMismatch = errors.New("public key does not match private key curve")
	ErrPublicPrivateKeyMismatch   = errors.New("public key and private key are not a pair")
	ErrPrivateKeyEncrypted        = errors.New("private key must be decrypted")
	ErrCaNotFound                 = errors.New("could not find ca for the certificate")
	ErrUnknownVersion             = errors.New("certificate version unrecognized")
	ErrCertPubkeyPresent          = errors.New("certificate has unexpected pubkey present")
	ErrCurveMismatch              = errors.New("certificate curve does not match CA")

	ErrInvalidPEMBlock                   = errors.New("input did not contain a valid PEM encoded block")
	ErrInvalidPEMCertificateBanner       = errors.New("bytes did not contain a proper certificate banner")
	ErrInvalidPEMX25519PublicKeyBanner   = errors.New("bytes did not contain a proper X25519 public key banner")
	ErrInvalidPEMX25519PrivateKeyBanner  = errors.New("bytes did not contain a proper X25519 private key banner")
	ErrInvalidPEMEd25519PublicKeyBanner  = errors.New("bytes did not contain a proper Ed25519 public key banner")
	ErrInvalidPEMEd25519PrivateKeyBanner = errors.New("bytes did not contain a proper Ed25519 private key banner")

	ErrNoPeerStaticKey = errors.New("no peer static key was present")
	ErrNoPayload       = errors.New("provided payload was empty")

	ErrMissingDetails  = errors.New("certificate did not contain details")

View on GitHub (pinned to dd8f660c0a)

Solutions

1. Regenerate the keypair on the same curve as the certificate's public key
2. Pass the curve reported by the certificate (c.Curve()) instead of hardcoding one
3. Re-issue the certificate from the correct private key if the cert itself is wrong

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cert/errors.go:19 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of slackhq/nebula@dd8f660c0a (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a7e781a736739621. Report an issue: GitHub.