diff --git a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7.go b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7.go
index cf727ce4..8ba12e20 100644
--- a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7.go
+++ b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7.go
@@ -66,7 +66,17 @@ func (group *dhGroup) keygenHKDFSHA256AES128(theirPublic, myPrivate *big.Int) ([
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	sharedSecretBytes := sharedSecret.Bytes()
+	// The Secret Service peer derives the key over the shared secret encoded as
+	// a fixed-length big-endian value matching the group prime size (128 bytes
+	// for the 1024-bit Second Oakley Group). big.Int.Bytes() returns the
+	// minimal encoding and strips leading zero bytes, so when the shared secret
+	// happens to have one or more leading zero bytes (~1/256 of sessions per
+	// byte) the HKDF input would be shorter than the peer's, deriving a
+	// different AES key. That mismatch makes the keyring reject the item with
+	// "the secret was transferred or encrypted in an invalid way". FillBytes
+	// left-pads with zeros so both sides agree on the input.
+	sharedSecretBytes := make([]byte, (group.p.BitLen()+7)/8)
+	sharedSecret.FillBytes(sharedSecretBytes)
 	defer clear(sharedSecretBytes)
 
 	r := hkdf.New(sha256.New, sharedSecretBytes, nil, nil)
diff --git a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7_test.go b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7_test.go
index be186333..9f796816 100644
--- a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7_test.go
+++ b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/dh_ietf1024_sha256_aes128_cbc_pkcs7_test.go
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 package secretservice
 
 import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"io"
+	"math/big"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"golang.org/x/crypto/hkdf"
 )
 
 func TestNewKeypair(t *testing.T) {
@@ -32,6 +36,46 @@ func TestKeygen(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, myKey, theirKey)
 }
 
+// TestKeygenPadsSharedSecretWithLeadingZero is a regression test for the
+// intermittent "secret was transferred or encrypted in an invalid way" failure.
+// The Secret Service peer derives the AES key over the DH shared secret encoded
+// as a fixed-length 128-byte big-endian value; big.Int.Bytes() drops leading
+// zero bytes, so a shared secret with a leading zero byte (~1/256 of sessions)
+// used to yield a shorter HKDF input and a mismatched key.
+//
+// Using myPrivate = 1 makes the shared secret equal to theirPublic (theirPublic^1
+// mod p), and 2^1016-1 is only 127 bytes wide, so its group encoding has a
+// leading zero byte. The derived key must match HKDF over the zero-padded
+// 128-byte encoding, not the stripped 127-byte one.
+func TestKeygenPadsSharedSecretWithLeadingZero(t *testing.T) {
+	group := rfc2409SecondOakleyGroup()
+
+	theirPublic := new(big.Int).Sub(new(big.Int).Lsh(big.NewInt(1), 1016), big.NewInt(1))
+	require.Len(t, theirPublic.Bytes(), 127, "test vector must have a leading zero byte in its 128-byte encoding")
+
+	got, err := group.keygenHKDFSHA256AES128(theirPublic, big.NewInt(1))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	primeLen := (group.p.BitLen() + 7) / 8
+	require.Equal(t, 128, primeLen)
+	padded := make([]byte, primeLen)
+	theirPublic.FillBytes(padded)
+
+	require.Equal(t, hkdfAESKey(t, padded), got, "key must derive from the zero-padded shared secret")
+	require.NotEqual(t, hkdfAESKey(t, theirPublic.Bytes()), got, "stripped-leading-zero encoding must derive a different (wrong) key")
+}
+
+// hkdfAESKey derives a 16-byte AES key from ikm the same way
+// keygenHKDFSHA256AES128 does, so tests can assert against the expected input.
+func hkdfAESKey(t *testing.T, ikm []byte) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	r := hkdf.New(sha256.New, ikm, nil, nil)
+	key := make([]byte, 16)
+	_, err := io.ReadFull(r, key)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	return key
+}
+
 func TestEncryption(t *testing.T) {
 	key := []byte("YELLOW SUBMARINE")
 	plaintext := []byte("hello world")
diff --git a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/secretservice.go b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/secretservice.go
index 25538245..af4579c3 100644
--- a/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/secretservice.go
+++ b/store/keychain/internal/go-keychain/secretservice/secretservice.go
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ func (s *SecretService) GetSecret(item dbus.ObjectPath, session Session) (secret
 	case AuthenticationDHAES:
 		plaintext, err := unauthenticatedAESCBCDecrypt(secret.Parameters, secret.Value, session.AESKey)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, nil
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decrypt secret: %w", err)
 		}
 		secretPlaintext = plaintext
 	default: