What does HRESULT 0x8028014B (TPM_20_E_NV_SPACE) mean?

TPM_20_E_NV_SPACE

TPM_20_E_NV_SPACE indicates that the TPM cannot reserve enough aggregate nonvolatile storage for the requested allocation. It is a capacity decision for the TPM's NV storage, not a request-range error on an existing index.

What it means in practice

• Existing NV indices consume finite TPM-managed nonvolatile storage, and the remaining capacity can vary by TPM implementation and provisioning history.
• A request may fit the maximum size of a single index yet still fail because the aggregate space is exhausted.
• Allocation may also involve TPM-managed metadata, so free application payload bytes are not the only consideration.

How to investigate safely

• Enumerate defined NV indices and retain their public metadata before changing anything. The index size, attributes, policy, and Name identify what a deletion would affect.
• Compare TPM_20_E_NV_SPACE with TPM_20_E_NV_SIZE: the former is total capacity, while the latter is the requested size of one index.
• Identify obsolete test indices through the product's ownership and provisioning records, not only by handle value.

Avoid destructive retries

TPM2_NV_UndefineSpace is a lifecycle action. Deleting an index can remove a counter, policy anchor, audit state, or encrypted application secret. Reclaim space only when the application has an approved migration or deprovisioning path.

References: TCG TPM 2.0 Library Part 2: Structures, TCG TPM 2.0 Library Part 3: Commands, and tpm2_nvreadpublic.

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