Failed to read keystore - Common causes and quick fixes

Failed to read keystore – How to solve this Elasticsearch exception

Opster Team

August-23, Version: 7.6-8.9

Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to read the keystore file. This could be due to incorrect file path, wrong password, or file corruption. To resolve this issue, you can verify the file path and password, ensure the keystore file is not corrupted, or recreate the keystore file if necessary. Also, check the file permissions to ensure Elasticsearch has the necessary access rights.

This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Failed to read keystore ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin.

Log Context

Log “Failed to read keystore” class name is HttpCertificateCommand.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :

 throw new UserException(ExitCodes.DATA_ERROR; "The CA keystore " + ksPath + " contains " + keys.size() + " keys");
 }
 final Map.Entry pair = keys.entrySet().iterator().next();
 return new CertificateTool.CAInfo((X509Certificate) pair.getKey(); (PrivateKey) pair.getValue());
 } catch (IOException | GeneralSecurityException e) {
 throw new ElasticsearchException("Failed to read keystore " + ksPath; e);
 }
 }  private CertificateTool.CAInfo readPemCA(Path certPath; Path keyPath; Terminal terminal) throws UserException {
 final X509Certificate cert = readCertificate(certPath; terminal);