Cloud Workload Appliance version 1.3.0 fails to automatically upgrade to version 1.3.1

Products

• Carbon Black Cloud Workload

Issue/Introduction

The CWP (Cloud Workload Appliance) in VMware fails to upgrade from version 1.3.0 to version 1.3.1 because of the following error in the appliance_worker.log file:

2026-01-13 02:00:15.861 [worker-job-thread-1] [INFO ] [com.vmware.cwp.appliance.applianceworker.upgrade.utils.FileUtils] : - Reading from /var/log/cwp/apw_upgrade_status.json file with statusData UpgradeStatusDTO(status=TERMINAL_STATUS_FAILED, reboot_pending=null, message=An unknown error occurred during appliance upgrade, source_version=null, target_version=1.3.1.0-25059238)

Environment

• Carbon Black Cloud Workload: Current Version
• Carbon Black Cloud Workload Appliance (CWP): Version 1.3.0

Cause

The CWP Appliance version 1.3.1 upgrade was failing to create the signal file to continue the upgrade due to the lack of criteria needed for the user, once the password aging expire is forced the user is able to run the upgrade script without conflicts.

Resolution

1. SSH to the CWP Appliance terminal
2. Run the cmds:

   # Adjust the pwd expiration policy 
   sudo chage -M -1 root
   # Verify 
   passwd -S root

3. Run the CWP Appliance Upgrade and validate version 1.3.1 is successfully applied
4. If there is still a failure, collect Appliance logs and open a Broadcom Support case

Additional Information

• The command provided is to disable the maximum password age for the root account, with this command the password will never expire, and the system will not force root to change its password. The root account no longer has password aging enforced. The password won’t be marked as expired. No warnings or forced changes for root.

•  Values:

  chage – changes user password aging policies.
  -M -1 – sets the maximum number of days the password is valid to -1.
  -1 means no expiration.
  root – the user account being modified.