When provisioning a cluster using openshift-install create cluster directly (without ccoctl or custom credential configuration), the resulting CloudCredential resource (cloudcredential.cluster) is created with an empty .spec.credentialsMode field.
This leads to CredentialRequests failing to sync, especially in environments where explicit mode is required (e.g., disconnected or restricted environments).
Expected behavior is that the installer should default this value to a valid mode (Mint, Passthrough, or Manual) based on platform context or error if undefined.    

    4.19

100%    

1. Prepare a standard install-config.yaml for AWS or another cloud platform.

2. Run: openshift-install create cluster --dir mycluster --log-level debug

3. After master comes up, access the cluster and observe the credential mode:

   oc get cloudcredential cluster -o yaml
   spec:
     credentialsMode: ""

The cluster operator says unable to sync creds


# oc get co
NAME                                       VERSION   AVAILABLE   PROGRESSING   DEGRADED   SINCE   MESSAGE
authentication                             4.19.0    False       True          True       9m47s   OAuthServerServiceEndpointAccessibleControllerAvailable: Get "https://172.30.151.169:443/healthz": dial tcp 172.30.151.169:443: connect: connection refused...
baremetal                                  4.19.0    True        False         False      8m56s   
cloud-controller-manager                   4.19.0    True        False         False      11m     
cloud-credential                           4.19.0    True        True          True       13m     6 of 6 credentials requests are failing to sync.
 

# oc get cloudcredential cluster -o yaml
apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: CloudCredential
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2025-06-23T04:17:55Z"
  generation: 1
  name: cluster
  resourceVersion: "519"
  uid: c1de6b47-ea45-449f-a3a7-4c718859257a
spec:
  credentialsMode: ""
  logLevel: Normal
  operatorLogLevel: Normal

# oc get secret -n openshift-cloud-credential-operator aws-creds -o yaml
Error from server (NotFound): secrets "aws-creds" not found

 Installation should not fail.