The .erlang.cookie file content does not have the expected initial value.

[myesn]

The cookie file content does not have the expected initial value.

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:3.9.5-management
    hostname: rabbit01
    container_name: rabbitmq
    restart: always
    environment: 
      - RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE=GBMQWMMYXWMEBYDDHYVQ
    volumes:
      - ./dockerfiles/rabbitmq/data:/var/lib/rabbitmq3
      - ./dockerfiles/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.conf:/etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq.conf      

After starting the service, I go inside the container through exec, and then view /root/.erlang.cookie and /var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie, The contents of a cookie file is TVCCUOTBYAGPINTFQKXX.

Could you tell me what I did wrong?

[michaelklishin]

I will convert this issue to a GitHub discussion. Currently GitHub will automatically close and lock the issue even though your question will be transferred and responded to elsewhere. This is to let you know that we do not intend to ignore this but this is how the current GitHub conversion mechanism makes it seem for the users :(

[michaelklishin]

Starting with 3.9.4, RABBITMQ_ERLANG_COOKIE can be used to override the value used by a node. It is not used to populate the cookie file. If you want to populate it, use an appropriate secret mechanism. Using an environment variable is a terribly insecure way to go about it.

Most likely the file is created by CLI tools that are not given any value explicitly using --erlang-cookie, and instead rely on the blank default value which means the runtime creates the file.