Custom domain stuck in VALIDATING_OWNERSHIP for 12+ hours - CNAME and _railway-verify TXT both verified correct
Anonymous
HOBBYOP

16 days ago

A custom domain certificate has been stuck in VALIDATING_OWNERSHIP and never advances. Both required DNS records were verified correct and globally resolvable, so this does not appear to be the usual missing-TXT case.

Domain:     www.laposata.dk
Domain ID:  aa4d3bb4-c362-4538-8054-d1724b12d6e3
Project ID: c24d1d56-00af-4486-b4d0-1498df6a9332
Service:    laposata-website (production)

certificateStatus: CERTIFICATE_STATUS_TYPE_VALIDATING_OWNERSHIP
status.verified:   false

TIMELINE
  2026-08-04 21:57 CEST  CNAME pointed at stxte639.up.railway.app
  2026-08-05 09:55 CEST  still unverified, ~12 hours later

VERIFIED WHILE POINTED AT RAILWAY
  CNAME  www.laposata.dk -> stxte639.up.railway.app
         Railway API reported DNS_RECORD_STATUS_PROPAGATED
         currentValue == requiredValue

  TXT    _railway-verify.www.laposata.dk
         value exactly matched status.verificationToken
         resolved NOERROR from ns61/ns62.domaincontrol.com
         (authoritative) and from 8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1, 9.9.9.9

  No CAA records on laposata.dk (Let's Encrypt not blocked)
  No DNSSEC (no DS records)
  DNS-only at GoDaddy, no proxy in the path
  Domain served 404 with fallback *.up.railway.app cert throughout
  "railway domain certificate retry" refused - issuance had not failed

I deliberately have NOT deleted and re-added the domain, to avoid rotating the CNAME target and verification token and risking a Let's Encrypt failed-authorization backoff.

Current state: I have temporarily repointed the CNAME back to our existing host so visitors are not served 404s. The verification TXT record is still in place and unchanged. I can repoint to the Railway target immediately on request.

Could someone please requeue certificate issuance for this domain?

Solved

3 Replies

Railway
BOT

16 days ago

The CNAME for www.laposata.dk is currently resolving to laposata.dk instead of the required Railway target stxte639.up.railway.app, so the domain's DNS status is not propagated and the certificate workflow cannot advance. The TXT verification record at _railway-verify.www.laposata.dk is correct and matches. Please repoint the CNAME back to stxte639.up.railway.app at GoDaddy and reply here once it has propagated so the domain status can be rechecked.


Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway 16 days ago


Anonymous
HOBBYOP

16 days ago

Done - the CNAME is repointed to the Railway target and has propagated. Railway's own API now reports the correct value.

2026-08-05 23:26 CEST

CNAME www.laposata.dk
  ns61.domaincontrol.com (authoritative)  stxte639.up.railway.app.
  8.8.8.8                                 stxte639.up.railway.app.
  1.1.1.1                                 stxte639.up.railway.app.

TXT _railway-verify.www.laposata.dk
  railway-verify=ca5d...19e2d  (matches status.verificationToken)

Railway API:
  currentValue: stxte639.up.railway.app
  status:       DNS_RECORD_STATUS_PROPAGATED
  verified:     false
  certificate:  CERTIFICATE_STATUS_TYPE_VALIDATING_OWNERSHIP

Both records are in place and propagated, and Railway sees the CNAME, but verified is still false and the certificate has not advanced.

One change since the original post: I removed a stale TXT record that had been sitting at _railway-verify.laposata.dk (apex) from an earlier misconfiguration. Only the correct _railway-verify.www record remains now, so there is no duplicate token in the zone.

Ready for the domain status to be rechecked, and for certificate issuance to be requeued if it is wedged server-side. I will leave the CNAME pointed at Railway - please let me know if you need anything else from my side.


Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway 16 days ago


sam-a
EMPLOYEE

15 days ago

Both DNS records are confirmed correct and propagated. The certificate workflow was stuck because the original verification attempt expired before your DNS was in place, and it never re-ran automatically. We've re-triggered certificate issuance for www.laposata.dk - it should complete within a few minutes.


Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway 15 days ago


Railway
BOT

8 days ago

This thread has been marked as solved automatically due to a lack of recent activity. Please re-open this thread or create a new one if you require further assistance. Thank you!

Status changed to Solved Railway 8 days ago


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