hyperledger/fabric · error

error unmarshalling HashedRWSet

Error message

error unmarshalling HashedRWSet

What it means

UnmarshalHashedRWSet wraps proto.Unmarshal failures for kvrwset.HashedRWSet bytes. It means the input bytes cannot be decoded as a HashedRWSet protobuf. Like the KVRWSet variant, it is thrown when callers pass the wrong message level or corrupted bytes.

Source

Thrown at protoutil/unmarshalers.go:193

// UnmarshalTxReadWriteSet unmarshals bytes to a TxReadWriteSet
func UnmarshalTxReadWriteSet(bytes []byte) (*rwset.TxReadWriteSet, error) {
	rws := &rwset.TxReadWriteSet{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(bytes, rws)
	return rws, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling TxReadWriteSet")
}

// UnmarshalKVRWSet unmarshals bytes to a KVRWSet
func UnmarshalKVRWSet(bytes []byte) (*kvrwset.KVRWSet, error) {
	rws := &kvrwset.KVRWSet{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(bytes, rws)
	return rws, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling KVRWSet")
}

// UnmarshalHashedRWSet unmarshals bytes to a HashedRWSet
func UnmarshalHashedRWSet(bytes []byte) (*kvrwset.HashedRWSet, error) {
	hrws := &kvrwset.HashedRWSet{}
	err := proto.Unmarshal(bytes, hrws)
	return hrws, errors.Wrap(err, "error unmarshalling HashedRWSet")
}

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

// UnmarshalPayloadOrPanic unmarshals bytes to a Payload structure or panics
// on error
func UnmarshalPayloadOrPanic(encoded []byte) *common.Payload {
	payload, err := UnmarshalPayload(encoded)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	return payload
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Verify the bytes are HashedRWSet (the Rwset field of HashedWriteSet wrappers), not a nested collection set
2. Check len(bytes) > 0 before calling
3. Align fabric-protos versions between producer and consumer of the bytes
4. Log the failure with namespace/collection context to identify the corrupted slice

Example fix

// before
hrws, err := protoutil.UnmarshalHashedRWSet(hashedRwSetBytes)
// after
if len(bytes) == 0 { return errors.New("empty hashed rwset bytes") }
hrws, err := protoutil.UnmarshalHashedRWSet(collHashedRwSet.Rwset)

func hasHashedRWSetBytes(b []byte) bool { return len(b) > 0 }

func safeUnmarshalHashedRWS(b []byte) (hrws *kvrwset.HashedRWSet, ok bool) {
    hrws, err := protoutil.UnmarshalHashedRWSet(b)
    return hrws, err == nil && hrws != nil
}

hrws, err := protoutil.UnmarshalHashedRWSet(bytes)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("undecodable hashed rwset: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling UnmarshalHashedRWSet with CollHashedRwSets inner bytes instead of the HashedRWSet message, nil/empty bytes, or data from a different proto schema version.

Common situations: Private data collection RW set tooling, hashed RW set comparisons, or tests marshalling the wrong struct.

Related errors

• error unmarshalling
• error unmarshalling original config
• error unmarshalling updated config
• failed to unmarshal ApplicationPolicy bytes
• could not unmarshal signature policy envelope

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5347ac8ee1fb072e. Report an issue: GitHub.