Oracle 19c: opatchauto apply -analyze fails with OPATCHAUTO-68061

Recently we had some issues running opatchauto analyze failing with this error:

OPatchauto session is initiated at Fri Aug 15 16:19:10 2025

System initialization log file is /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/cfgtoollogs/opatchautodb/systemconfig2025-08-15_04-19-19PM.log.

Session log file is /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/cfgtoollogs/opatchauto/opatchauto2025-08-15_04-19-23PM.log
The id for this session is TEHN

Executing OPatch prereq operations to verify patch applicability on home /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid
Patch applicability verification failed on home /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid

Execution of [OPatchAutoBinaryAction] patch action failed, check log for more details. Failures:
Patch Target : servername ->/u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid Type[siha]
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.oracle.glcm.patch.auto.db.integration.controller.action.OPatchAutoBinaryAction.executeSteps(OPatchAutoBinaryAction.java:236)
    at com.oracle.glcm.patch.auto.db.integration.controller.action.DBCommonPatchAction.execute(DBCommonPatchAction.java:138)
    at com.oracle.glcm.patch.auto.action.LocalPatchActionRunner.run(LocalPatchActionRunner.java:99)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:750)

OPATCHAUTO-68061: The orchestration engine failed.
OPATCHAUTO-68061: The orchestration engine failed with return code 1
OPATCHAUTO-68061: Check the log for more details.
OPatchAuto failed.

OPatchauto session completed at Fri Aug 15 16:19:35 2025
Time taken to complete the session 0 minute, 16 seconds

 opatchauto failed with error code 42

We even had error running any opatch command:

[oracle@servername ~]$ . oraenv
ORACLE_SID = [oracle] ? +ASM
The Oracle base has been set to /u01/app/oracle
[oracle@servername ~]$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches
OPatch failed with error code 255
[oracle@servername ~]$

Since we wanted to automate the process of patching doing it hands off, we wanted to rely on opatchauto so created an SR, on which after suggesting not great options (like copy the inventory from a working server or re-install Opatch tool…) and only solution they provided was to do a manual patching… Not great support from Oracle on a few SR’s already….

We found the issue by chance checking the permits on the .patch directories:

WORKING NODE:

[root@goodserver ~]# . oraenv
ORACLE_SID = [dummy] ? +ASM
The Oracle base remains unchanged with value /u01/app/oracle
[root@ goodserver ~]#  ls -ltda $ORACLE_HOME/.*
drwx------. 22 oracle oinstall 4096 Aug 15 11:08 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.patch_storage
drwxr-xr-x. 94 root   oinstall 4096 May 16 04:15 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.
drwxr-xr-x.  4 oracle oinstall 4096 May 15  2024 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/..
drwxr-x---.  3 oracle oinstall 4096 Apr 18  2019 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.opatchauto_storage
[root@goodserver ~]#


FAILING NODE:

[root@servername ~]# . oraenv
ORACLE_SID = [dummy] ? +ASM
The Oracle base remains unchanged with value /u01/app/oracle
[root@servername  ~]# ls -ltda $ORACLE_HOME/.*
drwx------. 22 root   root     4096 Aug 15 16:19 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.patch_storage
drwxr-x---.  4 oracle oracle   4096 May 16 07:03 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/..
drwxr-xr-x. 94 root   oinstall 4096 May 16 06:16 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.
drwxr-x---.  3 root   root     4096 Apr 18  2019 /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/.opatchauto_storage
[root@servername  ~]#

So this was the fix:

[root@servername  grid]# chmod 755 .patch_storage   <<--- this was the fix!!!!
[root@servername  grid]# chown -R oracle:oinstall .patch_storage
[root@servername  grid]# chown -R oracle:oinstall .opatchauto_storage
[root@servername  grid]# chown oracle:oinstall /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/grid/oraInst.loc

After this, analyze runs ok and Opatch can run commands without error:

[oracle@servername ~]$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches
37461387;TOMCAT RELEASE UPDATE 19.0.0.0.0 (37461387)
37266638;ACFS RELEASE UPDATE 19.26.0.0.0 (37266638)
37268031;OCW RELEASE UPDATE 19.26.0.0.0 (37268031)
37260974;Database Release Update : 19.26.0.0.250121 (37260974)
36758186;DBWLM RELEASE UPDATE 19.0.0.0.0 (36758186)

OPatch succeeded.
[oracle@servername ~]$