Unable to build the Jetpack 5.1.3 kernel for AGX Xavierafter enabling the kernel signature related modules

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson Systems Jetson AGX Xavier
1

config.txt (227.3 KB)

Kernel_build_logs.txt (18.6 KB)

Hi,

I’m building the JetPack 5.1.3 (L4T r35.5.0) kernel on Jetson AGX Xavier using the standard kernel sources from:
Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/

My kernel build fails with the following certificate-related error:

EXTRACT_CERTS   certs/signing_key.pem
EXTRACT_CERTS   certs/signing_key.x509
At main.c:161:
- SSL error:0909006C:PEM routines:get_name:no start line: ../crypto/pem/pem_lib.c:745
extract-cert: certs/signing_key.x509: Success
make[2]: *** certs/x509_certificate_list Error 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:1864: certs] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:220: __sub-make] Error 2

What I Already Checked

  • CONFIG_MODULE_SIG is enabled in kernel config.

  • CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_KEY="certs/signing_key.pem" is present.

  • The file certs/signing_key.pem exists, but the extract-cert step fails.

When I open the PEM file, it looks like the key may be incomplete or corrupted:

-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEvgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBK

So it seems the kernel build system is unable to extract the certificate and create certs/x509_certificate_list.

Questions for NVIDIA:

  1. Why does the kernel build system generate an invalid signing_key.pem during the build?

  2. Is signing_key.pem supposed to be autogenerated by the build, or should we manually generate a valid RSA key pair before building?

  3. What is the correct procedure for kernel module signing on JetPack 5.1.3 (kernel 5.10) for systems that use secure boot / ODM fused?

  4. Is there an official NVIDIA guide for regenerating the certs folder for kernel signing?

Environment

  • Jetson AGX Xavier

  • JetPack 5.1.3

  • L4T 35.5.0

  • Kernel 5.10 source from Linux_for_Tegra

  • Building on Ubuntu 20.04 x86_64 host

Any guidance on the correct way to fix the PEM certificate issue or regenerate the signing key for kernel build would be appreciated.

Thank you.

3

hello sagarkoli159,

you may see-also Topic 301708 for reference.