keybase / keybase/keybase-issues

Mysterious `keybase pull` error

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#770 5 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
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Description

On all computers except for the one where I pushed my private key from, when I run keybase pull (or any other keybase command tries to pull the private key), I get this error message:

```
Your keybase login passphrase (to pull your private key from the server):
- run scrypt [==================================] 100%
error: Signature mismatch or bad decryption key
```

At first I thought that this was a problem with the password I was entering, but I was able to verify the password by doing a `reset` and then subsequent `login` with the same password copied and pasted. So is this a problem with my particular setup or something else?

I uploaded the key originally from a Linux Mint machine:

```
keybase (keybase.io CLI) v0.4.4
- node.js v0.10.26
- gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.12
- Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Identifies as: 'keybase.io node.js client v0.4.4 linux'
```

And I've tried (unsuccessfully) to pull it down on both a mac and linux machine:

```
keybase (keybase.io CLI) v0.4.4
- node.js v0.10.26
- gpg (GnuPG/MacGPG2) 2.0.22
- libgcrypt 1.5.3
Identifies as: 'keybase.io node.js client v0.4.4 darwin'

keybase (keybase.io CLI) v0.4.4
- node.js v0.10.25
- gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.14
- Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Identifies as: 'keybase.io node.js client v0.4.4 linux'
```

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Reproduce the failure with keybase pull, then compare the reported Linux and macOS environments, including their Node.js, GnuPG, and libgcrypt versions. Use reset and login to verify the passphrase separately; done means identifying the cause of the signature mismatch and confirming that private-key retrieval works across the reported platforms.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux, node.js
Domain
cli, cryptography, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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