The public key cannot be used to encrypt a message

Passbolt has been up and running for a while now. Today, I’m getting an error when trying to log in.

Ubuntu Server 22.04
Installed with these directions:
Passbolt Help | Install Passbolt CE on Ubuntu 22.04

I provide a copy of my logs and healthcheck

     ____                  __          ____
    / __ \____  _____ ____/ /_  ____  / / /_
   / /_/ / __ `/ ___/ ___/ __ \/ __ \/ / __/
  / ____/ /_/ (__  |__  ) /_/ / /_/ / / /
 /_/    \__,_/____/____/_.___/\____/_/\__/

 Open source password manager for teams
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Healthcheck shell
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Environment

 [PASS] PHP version 7.4.3-4ubuntu2.18.
 [PASS] PCRE compiled with unicode support.
 [PASS] The temporary directory and its content are writable and not executable.
 [PASS] The logs directory and its content are writable.
 [PASS] GD or Imagick extension is installed.
 [PASS] Intl extension is installed.
 [PASS] Mbstring extension is installed.

 Config files

 [PASS] The application config file is present
 [PASS] The passbolt config file is present

 Core config

 [PASS] Debug mode is off.
 [PASS] Cache is working.
 [PASS] Unique value set for security.salt
 [PASS] Full base url is set to https://passbolt.mydomain.com
 [PASS] App.fullBaseUrl validation OK.
 [PASS] /healthcheck/status is reachable.

 SSL Certificate

 [PASS] SSL peer certificate validates
 [PASS] Hostname is matching in SSL certificate.
 [PASS] Not using a self-signed certificate

 Database

 [PASS] The application is able to connect to the database
 [PASS] 30 tables found
 [PASS] Some default content is present
 [PASS] The database schema up to date.

 GPG Configuration

 [PASS] PHP GPG Module is installed and loaded.
 [PASS] The environment variable GNUPGHOME is set to /var/lib/passbolt/.gnupg.
 [PASS] The directory /var/lib/passbolt/.gnupg containing the keyring is writable by the webserver user.
 [PASS] The server OpenPGP key is not the default one
 [PASS] The public key file is defined in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php and readable. [PASS] The private key file is defined in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php and readable.
 [PASS] The server key fingerprint matches the one defined in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php.
 [PASS] The server public key defined in the /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php (or environment variables) is in the keyring.
 [PASS] There is a valid email id defined for the server key.
 [FAIL] The public key cannot be used to encrypt a message
 [HELP] Make sure that the server private key is valid and that there is no passphrase.
 [HELP] Make sure you imported the private server key in the keyring of the webserver user.
 [HELP] you can try:
 [HELP] sudo su -s /bin/bash -c "gpg --home /var/lib/passbolt/.gnupg --import /etc/passbolt/gpg/serverkey_private.asc" www-data
 [FAIL] The private key cannot be used to sign a message
 [HELP] Make sure that the server private key is valid and that there is no passphrase.
 [HELP] Make sure you imported the private server key in the keyring of the webserver user.
 [HELP] you can try:
 [HELP] sudo su -s /bin/bash -c "gpg --home /var/lib/passbolt/.gnupg --import /etc/passbolt/gpg/serverkey_private.asc" www-data
 [FAIL] The public and private keys cannot be used to encrypt and sign a message
 [FAIL] The private key cannot be used to decrypt a message
 [FAIL] The private key cannot be used to decrypt and verify a message
 [FAIL] The public key cannot be used to verify a signature.
 [PASS] The server public key format is Gopengpg compatible.
 [PASS] The server private key format is Gopengpg compatible.

 Application configuration

 [PASS] Using latest passbolt version (4.0.2).
 [PASS] Passbolt is configured to force SSL use.
 [PASS] App.fullBaseUrl is set to HTTPS.
 [PASS] Selenium API endpoints are disabled.
 [PASS] Search engine robots are told not to index content.
 [INFO] The Self Registration plugin is enabled.
 [INFO] Registration is closed, only administrators can add users.
 [PASS] The deprecated self registration public setting was not found in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php.
 [WARN] Host availability checking is disabled.
 [HELP] Make sure this instance is not publicly available on the internet.
 [HELP] Or set the PASSBOLT_EMAIL_VALIDATE_MX environment variable to true.
 [HELP] Or set passbolt.email.validate.mx to true in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php.
 [PASS] Serving the compiled version of the javascript app.
 [WARN] Some email notifications are disabled by the administrator.

 JWT Authentication

 [PASS] The JWT Authentication plugin is enabled
 [PASS] The /etc/passbolt/jwt/ directory is not writable.
 [PASS] A valid JWT key pair was found

 SMTP Settings

 [PASS] The SMTP Settings plugin is enabled.
 [PASS] SMTP Settings coherent. You may send a test email to validate them.
 [PASS] The SMTP Settings source is: database.
 [WARN] The SMTP Settings plugin endpoints are enabled.
 [HELP] It is recommended to disable the plugin endpoints.
 [HELP] Set the PASSBOLT_SECURITY_SMTP_SETTINGS_ENDPOINTS_DISABLED environment variable to true.
 [HELP] Or set passbolt.security.smtpSettings.endpointsDisabled to true in /etc/passbolt/passbolt.php.

 [FAIL] 6 error(s) found. Hang in there!

I describe the steps I have taken to trouble shoot the problem

I’ve run the following:
sudo su -s /bin/bash -c “gpg --home /var/lib/passbolt/.gnupg --import /etc/passbolt/gpg/serverkey_private.asc” www-data

result is:

gpg: key MYKEY234123: "My Name <me@yahoo.com>" not changed
gpg: key MYKEY234123: secret key imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:              unchanged: 1
gpg:       secret keys read: 1
gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

I also tried to generate a new key with gpg --full-generate-key
I run through the prompts and get to the passphrase section. I DO NOT enter a passphrase and hit OK. The passphrase prompt reappears. I can’t get past it.

Anyone have some ideas on what to do next?

Hi @dustbro You could try rotating the server keys: Passbolt Help | How to rotate server GPG keys

Running in a batch approach should help.

1 Like

My hero! That fixed me up. Back in action

3 Likes