kvstore fails to start with error "MONGODB-X509: UserNotFound: Could not find user"

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Updated:September 29, 2026
Document ID:SPLK045995

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Applicability

Splunk Enterprise

Description

When deploying custom certificates for splunk to splunk communication the Organization(O), Organizational Unit(OU) or Domain Component(DC) need to be in the subject of the SSL certificate if the following is set in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/server.conf 
[kvstore]
sslVerifyServerCert = true

OR

If Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) is enabled.  FIPS mode always uses sslVerifyServerCert for the kvstore.



If the O,OU or DC is not present in the subject line of the SSL certificate the below error will be seen in mongod.log:
MONGODB-X509: UserNotFound: Could not find user

Investigation

What is FIPS

FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) are a set of standards that describe document processing, encryption algorithms and other information technology standards for use within non-military government agencies and by government contractors and vendors who work with the agencies.

To Verify whether FIPS mode is enabled check for SPLUNK_FIPS=1  in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/splunk-launch.conf

sslVerifyServerCert is enabled as part of FIPS mode even if it is not enabled in the [kvstore] stanza of server.conf

This can also occur if sslVerifyServerCert = true is set in the [kvstore] stanza of server.conf on the search head, verify via:
 
$SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk btool server list --debug


 

Resolution

Mongodb requires that the O,OU or DC be in the subject of the SSL certificate if it is being verified.  If they are not present then a new SSL certificate must be generated with the O, OU or DC present in the subject.

Not all third party certificate managers can add the O, OU or DC to the subject line so a new third party certificate from a different manager may be needed.

If using AWS the below documents have additional information on how to use AWS Private CA API to request certs with custom identifiers

issue-certificate
Issue a certificate with a custom subject name using an APIPassthrough template
issue-certificate
Issue a certificate with a custom subject name using an APIPassthrough template

Revision History

Revision Publish Date Comments
1.0
29-Sep-2026
Initial Release

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