I get an Owner mismatch error when configuring an Organization Folder with a GitHub App

Last Reviewed:2025-12-04()
2 minute readKnowledge base

Issue

When configuring an Organization Folder using a GitHub App credential in CloudBees CI, the UI shows the following error:

An internal error occurred during form field validation (HTTP 500). Please reload the page and if the problem persists, ask the administrator for help.
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The logs show:

WARNING o.e.j.s.h.ContextHandler$Context#log: Error while serving $JENKINS_URL/job/$JOB_NAME/descriptorByName/org.jenkinsci.plugins.github_branch_source.GitHubSCMNavigator/checkCredentialsId
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Owner mismatch: $CREDENTIAL_OWNER_NAME vs.
at PluginClassLoader for github-branch-source//org.jenkinsci.plugins.github_branch_source.GitHubAppCredentials.withOwner(GitHubAppCredentials.java:343)
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Environment

Resolution

Root cause: There is a mismatch between the Owner field configured at the GitHub App credential level (under Advanced settings) and the Owner field at the Organization Folder level. The exception is not caught properly, resulting in an HTTP 500 error instead of a user-friendly validation message.

Ensure the Owner field value matches between the GitHub App credential and the Organization Folder configuration:

A) At the GitHub App credential level:

  1. Navigate to Manage Jenkins  Credentials.

  2. Select the appropriate credentials domain.

  3. Edit the GitHub App credential (kind: GitHub App).

  4. Click Advanced.

  5. Note the value in the Owner field (or leave it blank).

B) At the Organization Folder level:

  1. Navigate to your Organization Folder.

  2. Click Configure.

  3. Find the Owner field in the GitHub configuration section.

  4. Set the same value as configured in the GitHub App credential.

  5. If the credential’s Owner field is blank, leave the Organization Folder’s Owner field blank as well.

Note: If your GitHub App is only installed in a single organization, you can leave both Owner fields blank and the plugin will automatically infer the correct owner.

This issue is tracked in JENKINS-76235 (fix for the crash) and JENKINS-76236 (improved error reporting).

Tested product/plugin versions

This article is part of our Knowledge Base and is provided for guidance-based purposes only. The solutions or workarounds described here are not officially supported by CloudBees and may not be applicable in all environments. Use at your own discretion, and test changes in a safe environment before applying them to production systems.