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cpauthd: Invalid password in passdb: crypt() failed: Invalid argument

bloatedstoat

We have an issue where all email accounts on our server are failing authentication following a server reboot. The logs show:

 

Sep 25 20:52:10 server dovecot[2579]: auth-worker(emailaddress,116.91.221.230)<21165><KFsVgkxcKw50W93m>: request [9]: Error: cpauthd: Invalid password in passdb: crypt() failed: Invalid argument
Sep 25 20:52:10 server dovecot[2579]: imap-login: Login aborted: Logged out (auth service reported temporary failure, 1 attempts in 2 secs) (temp_fail): user=<emailaddress>, method=PLAIN, rip=xxxx, lip=xxxxxx, TLS, session=<dYD1gUxct+GvJJVY>

Cloudlinux 8 Cpanel 138.0 (build 10)

Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • bloatedstoat

    Problem solved. ran this and everything started working again. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

    /usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt
    0
  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Hey hey!  If the license detection isn't working properly it will suspend the email authentication process.  More details on what all happens here:

    https://support.cpanel.net/hc/en-us/articles/7284279950999-What-happens-to-my-server-when-the-cPanel-license-is-expired-or-cancelled

    It's odd that a simple reboot would trigger this though.  Was there anything else in the main cPanel log that indicated a license issue?

    0
  • bloatedstoat

    Nothing that is glaringly obvious.

    The cpanel log shows the shutdown and restart and the license failing to activate.

    [2026-09-25 19:59:05 +1000] info [cpsrvd] version 11.138.0.10 online
    [2026-09-25 20:20:15 +1000] info [restartsrv_cpanel_php_fpm] The service 'cpanel_php_fpm' appears to be already down. Nothing was stopped.
    cpsrvd [1657205] Shutting down due to SIGTERM
    [2026-09-26 20:22:48 +1000] info [run_plugin_lifecycle] Nothing to do for cpanel-xovi-plugin.
    -- RESTART MARKER (PID 2262 at Sat Sep 26 20:23:00 2026 - 1790367780)--
    ==> cpsrvd 11.138.0.10 started
    ==> cpsrvd: loading security policy....Done
    ==> cpsrvd: Setting up SSL support ... Done
    License Check Failed during startup of cpsrvd: License not activated
    ==> cpsrvd: transferred port bindings: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
    ==> CONFIGURATION CHANGE: closing FD 11 (webmail, port 2095)
    ==> CONFIGURATION CHANGE: closing FD 12 (webmail_ssl, port 2096)
    ==> cpsrvd: bound to ports
    License Check Failed: License not activated
    [2026-09-26 20:23:01 +1000] info [cpsrvd] version 11.138.0.10 online
    dovecot auth service not ready
    dovecot auth service not ready
    ......
    dovecot auth service not ready
    dovecot auth service not ready
    [2026-09-25 20:23:26 +1000]: “/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_apache_php_fpm --graceful” called by (10021 - /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_httpd --no-verbose)

    Anyway, given no mechanism exists to alert us when a license fails and the impact when it happen is highly disruptive we'll write a script that reports it by SMS.

    Thanks.

    0
  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    If you have the option, that might be worth making a ticket about.  It almost seems like a race condition of some sort during the restart.

    0
  • Arslan Azam

    I am also facing same problem, even not able login cPanel, 

    0
  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Arslan Azam - do you have root access to the server?

    0

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