An HTTP 422 Unprocessable Entity response code is specifically used by the Conjur API to indicate that the server understood the request to load a policy, but the content of the policy file itself is invalid. While the request format is correct, the policy YAML contains semantic errors, such as incorrect syntax, references to non-existent entities, or logical inconsistencies. The server cannot process or apply these invalid instructions, and therefore rejects the policy file with a 422 status, often accompanied by a message detailing the specific error within the policy.

B. An incorrect Leader URL would cause a client-side connection failure, a DNS error, or a 404 Not Found HTTP response, not a 422.

C. A misconfigured load balancer health check would affect service availability, likely resulting in connection timeouts or 503 Service Unavailable errors.

D. The Vault Conjur Synchronizer is a separate component; its configuration is irrelevant to a user or script directly loading a policy via the Conjur API.

1. CyberArk Conjur Documentation

REST APIs

"Load policy": The official API documentation for the policy loading endpoint (POST /policies/{account}/policy/{policyid}) explicitly lists the possible response codes. It states that a 422 Unprocessable Entity code is returned when "The policy text is invalid." This directly links the error code to a malformed or invalid policy file. (Reference: Conjur v13.2 Documentation

REST APIs > Policies > Load policy).

2. IETF RFC 4918

Section 11.2: This RFC defines the 422 Unprocessable Entity status code. It specifies that this code is used when "the server understands the content type of the request entity... but was unable to process the contained instructions." This aligns with Conjur's use of the code for a syntactically correct request containing a semantically flawed policy file. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.17487/RFC4918).