Unexpected Server error logging into Endpoint Manager with FIPS enabled

Products

• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

Following a repair of Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager (SEPM), "Unexpected Server Error" is encountered when logging in to SEPM.  The following error can be seen in the scm-ui (located in TEMP directory):

Nov 25, 2020 1:50:17 PM  STDOUT: NoSuchProviderException Exception in getting MessageDigest.getInstance in FIPS Mode: no such provider: Symantec
Nov 25, 2020 1:50:17 PM GUIManager INFO: Unexpected server error. ErrorCode: 0x10010000
Nov 25, 2020 1:50:17 PM  STDOUT: GUIManager>> preparePostRequestHttpURLConnectionForLogin>> CommunicationException: Unexpected server error. ErrorCode: 0x10010000

or 

Nov 25, 2020 1:50:25 PM  STDOUT: ServerCertUtil> readCreateStorePasswd>> Unable to read the Storepasswd from file: C:\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\tomcat\conf\server.xml

Cause

FIPS implementation was damaged during the repair, but remains enabled.

Resolution

Disable and re-enable FIPS mode:

1. As administrator, run the FIPSMode-Disable.bat file from: ...\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\bin
2. After FIPS mode has been disabled, re-enable it by running FIPSMode-Enable.bat which is located in the same directory.
3. Run upgrade.bat file from: ...\Program Files (x86)\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager\bin\upgrade.bat

Additional Information

The issue may occur after upgrading SEPM with SQL Express database to 14.3 RU7 as well.

In that case, need to keep the FIPS mode disabled (run FIPSMode-Disable.bat) as per the following note on Configuring Symantec Endpoint Protection to be FIPS 140-2-compliant: FIPS mode only works with a Microsoft SQL Server database and not the default Microsoft SQL Server Express database.