Artifactory Maven "401 Unauthorized" (settings.xml) in CI

Maven could not authenticate to the Artifactory repository. The <server> id in settings.xml does not match the repository id, or the username/token is missing or stale.

What this error means

A mvn deploy or mvn install against Artifactory fails with "Failed to deploy artifacts: Could not transfer artifact ... status code: 401" or "Not authorized".

maven

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-deploy-plugin:deploy:
Failed to deploy artifacts: Could not transfer artifact com.acme:app:jar:1.0.0 from/to
central (https://acme.jfrog.io/artifactory/libs-release): status code: 401, reason phrase: Unauthorized

Common causes

settings.xml server id does not match the repo id

Maven matches <server><id> to the repository or distributionManagement id. A mismatch means no credentials are sent and the request is anonymous.

Missing or expired token in settings.xml

The <server> block has no password/token, or it holds an expired one, so the deploy returns 401.

How to fix it

Let jf configure Maven repositories

Configure resolve and deploy repos for the jf CLI.
Run Maven through jf so it injects credentials from JF_ACCESS_TOKEN.
Keep the server id consistent between settings.xml and the repo config.

Terminal

jf mvn-config --repo-resolve-releases libs-release --repo-deploy-releases libs-release-local
jf mvn clean deploy

Match the server id and inject the token

If configuring Maven directly, set a <server> whose id equals the repository id and source the token from an env var.

settings.xml

<server>
  <id>libs-release-local</id>
  <username>${env.JF_USER}</username>
  <password>${env.JF_ACCESS_TOKEN}</password>
</server>

How to prevent it

Keep <server> ids aligned with repository/distributionManagement ids.
Source Maven credentials from env vars, not committed settings.
Prefer jf mvn-config so the CLI manages Artifactory auth.