ARTIFACTORY: How to Overcome the error message “ couldn't validate licenses for licenses hash:” in JFrog Artifactory

Introduction 

This article addresses an issue where JFConnect is unable to load the current license information. The problem occurs because old or outdated license hashes are still stored in the database. As a result, JFConnect fails to validate the licenses and stops the entitlement service.

This issue can be identified by error messages in the logs similar to the following: 

2025-09-29T19:14:51.613Z [jfcon] [ERROR] [3fae24db563c748f] [entitlements_service.go:338   ] [main                ] [                ] - [JFrog Entitlement Server]: couldn't validate licenses for licenses hash: [fef99565d6d8dd98e4e1a4e9044451ce65b1ab1e, ff9a468ff3e1680e738584cdfd303ded6a6c1e98] [entitlement_service]

2025-09-29T19:14:51.613Z [jfcon] [ERROR] [3fae24db563c748f] [entitlements_service.go:316   ] [main                ] [                ] - Synced action 'register' - encountered unrecoverable error, entitlement service stopped until restart or license update. cause: status code 400 [entitlement_service]

This article will guide you through the steps required to remove outdated license entries from the database so that JFConnect can successfully load and display the correct license information.


Resolution 

Follow the steps below carefully to resolve the issue.

1. Back up the database
   
   • Before making any changes, take a full backup of the database.
     
   • This ensures you can roll back if needed.
     
     
2. Stop Artifactory
   
   • Shut down the Artifactory service to prevent changes while updating the database.
     
     
3. Clean old license entries from the database
   
   • Connect to the Artifactory database.
     
   • Run the following SQL queries to remove outdated JFConnect license configuration data:
     

     delete from access_platform_config where config_key like '%.license.key';
     delete from access_platform_config where config_key = 'jfconnect.entitlements.config';
     delete from access_platform_config where config_key = 'jfconnect.entitlements.register';
     delete from access_platform_config where config_key = 'jfconnect.entitlements';

     
     
4. Restart Artifactory
   
   • Start the Artifactory service after the database cleanup is complete.

Conclusion

Outdated license hashes stored in the database can prevent JFConnect from validating and loading the current license. By backing up the database, removing old license-related configuration entries, and restarting Artifactory, the issue can be resolved successfully.

After applying this solution, the system correctly displays the updated license information, and the entitlement service functions as expected.