YubiKey 5C is not recognized via a docking station

Question

I have a new YubiKey 5C NFC which, when plugged directly in my laptop, works fine. However, when I plug it into my docking station it doesn't work at all.

OS: Linux Mint 20.1
Kernel: 5.4.0-77-generic
Docking station: Caldigit ts3

Looking at the dmesg logs, I get the following when plugging the YubiKey into the laptop directly:

[  +7.595200] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 14 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.149581] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1050, idProduct=0407, bcdDevice= 5.27
[  +0.000005] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[  +0.000004] usb 1-1: Product: YubiKey OTP+FIDO+CCID
[  +0.000002] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Yubico
[  +0.004996] input: Yubico YubiKey OTP+FIDO+CCID as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.0/0003:1050:0407.00CE/input/input266
[  +0.058128] hid-generic 0003:1050:0407.00CE: input,hidraw3: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [Yubico YubiKey OTP+FIDO+CCID] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input0
[  +0.001093] hid-generic 0003:1050:0407.00CF: hiddev0,hidraw4: USB HID v1.10 Device [Yubico YubiKey OTP+FIDO+CCID] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input1

When I plug it into the docking station there isn’t anything logged at all (I've tried all USB-C ports on the dock).

Why isn't the YubiKey recognized by the dock?

@PeterMortensen Why are you editing questions and adding content, such as links that didn't previously exist? If an author already linked that's one thing, but content not previously existing shouldn't be added by someone other than the OP _(folks can use a search engine if unfamiliar with a word/device/etc.)_ — JW0914, Jun 30 '22 at 03:13

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 03 '21 at 07:37

In the post Yubikey is not recognized right after boot, a method to force the detection of the YubiKey was to enter the command:

sudo udevadm trigger

If this doesn't work for you, Yubico in the post Using a YubiKey with USB-C Adapters acknowledges that some adapters are just incompatible with its hardware. Yubico doesn't offer any solution to this incompatibility, except the advice to assure that the adapter is compatible before buying one.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 29 '22 at 21:06

I've managed to solve the problem. The device was not authorized, so the following steps using boltctl resolved the issue:

boltctl

Output:

 ● CalDigit, Inc. TS3 Plus
   ├─ type:          peripheral
   ├─ name:          TS3 Plus
   ├─ vendor:        CalDigit, Inc.
   ├─ uuid:          00b81a88-c99c-3d00-ffff-ffffffffffff
   ├─ status:        authorized
   │  ├─ domain:     ca030000-0072-7088-2050-e809e8222120
   │  └─ authflags:  none
   ├─ authorized:    Thu Jul  8 10:17:26 2021
   ├─ connected:     Thu Jul  8 10:01:33 2021
   └─ stored:        no

Note the UUID, and then run

boltctl authorize 00b81a88-c99c-3d00-ffff-ffffffffffff

The YubiKey works just fine now via the dock!

"boltctl - control the thunderbolt device manager". How is YubiKey related to [Thunderbolt 3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)#Thunderbolt_3)? — Peter Mortensen, Jun 29 '22 at 21:13

YubiKey 5C is not recognized via a docking station

2 Answers2