hyperledger/fabric · error

error unmarshalling ChaincodeInvocationSpec

Error message

error unmarshalling ChaincodeInvocationSpec

What it means

UnmarshalChaincodeInvocationSpec wraps a proto.Unmarshal failure: the proposal payload's chaincode invocation spec bytes are not a valid ChaincodeInvocationSpec protobuf — malformed or version-incompatible proposal input.

Source

Thrown at protoutil/unmarshalers.go:40

// UnmarshalBlock unmarshals bytes to a Block
func UnmarshalBlock(encoded []byte) (*common.Block, error) {
	block := &common.Block{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(encoded, block)
	return block, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling Block")
}

// UnmarshalChaincodeDeploymentSpec unmarshals bytes to a ChaincodeDeploymentSpec
func UnmarshalChaincodeDeploymentSpec(code []byte) (*peer.ChaincodeDeploymentSpec, error) {
	cds := &peer.ChaincodeDeploymentSpec{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(code, cds)
	return cds, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling ChaincodeDeploymentSpec")
}

// UnmarshalChaincodeInvocationSpec unmarshals bytes to a ChaincodeInvocationSpec
func UnmarshalChaincodeInvocationSpec(encoded []byte) (*peer.ChaincodeInvocationSpec, error) {
	cis := &peer.ChaincodeInvocationSpec{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(encoded, cis)
	return cis, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling ChaincodeInvocationSpec")
}

// UnmarshalPayload unmarshals bytes to a Payload
func UnmarshalPayload(encoded []byte) (*common.Payload, error) {
	payload := &common.Payload{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(encoded, payload)
	return payload, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling Payload")
}

// UnmarshalEnvelope unmarshals bytes to a Envelope
func UnmarshalEnvelope(encoded []byte) (*common.Envelope, error) {
	envelope := &common.Envelope{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(encoded, envelope)
	return envelope, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling Envelope")
}

// UnmarshalChannelHeader unmarshals bytes to a ChannelHeader
func UnmarshalChannelHeader(bytes []byte) (*common.ChannelHeader, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Rebuild/re-sign the proposal with a compatible SDK
2. Verify the input bytes correspond to a ChaincodeInvocationSpec

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at protoutil/unmarshalers.go:40 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/032d3afc38e25851. Report an issue: GitHub.