ethereum/go-ethereum · error

invalid node type

Error message

invalid node type

What it means

Error "invalid node type" thrown in ethereum/go-ethereum.

Source

Thrown at trie/stacktrie.go:403

			Val: st.children[0].val,
		}
		n.encode(t.h.encbuf)
		blob = t.h.encodedBytes()

		stPool.Put(st.children[0].reset()) // Release child back to pool.
		st.children[0] = nil

	case leafNode:
		st.key = append(st.key, byte(16))
		n := leafNodeEncoder{
			Key: hexToCompactInPlace(st.key),
			Val: st.val,
		}
		n.encode(t.h.encbuf)
		blob = t.h.encodedBytes()

	default:
		panic("invalid node type")
	}
	// Convert the node type to hashNode and reset the key slice.
	st.typ = hashedNode
	st.key = st.key[:0]

	// Release reference to value slice which is exclusively owned
	// by stackTrie itself.
	if cap(st.val) > 0 && t.vPool != nil {
		t.vPool.put(st.val)
	}
	st.val = nil

	// Skip committing the non-root node if the size is smaller than 32 bytes
	// as tiny nodes are always embedded in their parent except root node.
	if len(blob) < 32 && len(path) > 0 {
		st.val = bPool.getWithSize(len(blob))
		copy(st.val, blob)
		return

View on GitHub (pinned to 6bb0588ad8)

Solutions

1. Defensive panic for an unknown node type during stacktrie hashing. Use the StackTrie correctly (sorted unique keys, no insertion after Hash) and treat any hit of this panic as an internal bug to report.

Example fix

// Ensure single-threaded, sorted, one-shot usage:
st := stacktrie.New(nil)
for _, kv := range sortedUniqueKVs { st.Update(kv.K, kv.V) }
root := st.Hash()

When it happens

Trigger: Hashing a stacktrie node whose type does not match any known stNode kind.

Common situations: Internal corruption or misuse of the stacktrie API outside its contract.

AI-assisted analysis of ethereum/go-ethereum@6bb0588ad8 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46141f6d43dfe53b. Report an issue: GitHub.