hyperledger/fabric · error

nil arguments

Error message

nil arguments

What it means

GetSignedProposal returns a signed proposal by marshaling the Proposal and signing it with the provided signer. If either the proposal or the signer is nil, it returns the 'nil arguments' error, since neither a signature nor bytes can be produced.

Source

Thrown at protoutil/txutils.go:360

	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	resp := &peer.ProposalResponse{
		// Timestamp: TODO!
		Payload:  prpBytes,
		Response: response,
	}

	return resp, nil
}

// GetSignedProposal returns a signed proposal given a Proposal message and a
// signing identity
func GetSignedProposal(prop *peer.Proposal, signer Signer) (*peer.SignedProposal, error) {
	// check for nil argument
	if prop == nil || signer == nil {
		return nil, errors.New("nil arguments")
	}

	propBytes, err := proto.Marshal(prop)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	signature, err := signer.Sign(propBytes)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	return &peer.SignedProposal{ProposalBytes: propBytes, Signature: signature}, nil
}

// MockSignedEndorserProposalOrPanic creates a SignedProposal with the
// passed arguments
func MockSignedEndorserProposalOrPanic(

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Verify both the Proposal and Signer are non-nil before calling GetSignedProposal
2. Check errors from the proposal constructor (CreateProposal) rather than ignoring them
3. Initialize the signing identity (local MSP / wallet) before invoking chaincode or join operations
4. On typed-nil interface risk, use an is-nil check that handles interface-wrapped nil pointers

Example fix

// before
signedProp, _ := protoutil.GetSignedProposal(prop, signer) // prop or signer may be nil
// after
if prop == nil || signer == nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("proposal and signer required")
}
signedProp, err := protoutil.GetSignedProposal(prop, signer)
if err != nil {
    return nil, err
}

func canSign(prop *peer.Proposal, signer protoutil.Signer) error {
    if prop == nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("proposal is nil")
    }
    if signer == nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("signer is nil")
    }
    return nil
}

func isNilDeep(v interface{}) bool {
    if v == nil { return true }
    rv := reflect.ValueOf(v)
    switch rv.Kind() {
    case reflect.Ptr, reflect.Interface, reflect.Map, reflect.Slice:
        return rv.IsNil()
    }
    return false
}

if err := canSign(prop, signer); err != nil {
    return nil, err
}
signedProp, err := protoutil.GetSignedProposal(prop, signer)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("sign proposal: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling GetSignedProposal(nil, signer), GetSignedProposal(prop, nil), or passing typed-nil values (nil interface holding nil *peer.Proposal / nil SigningIdentity) from unchecked earlier calls.

Common situations: Proposal construction failed earlier and nil was propagated; signing identity not initialized because MSP config/env was missing; SDK wrappers (ChaincodeInvokeOrQuery, executeJoin) hitting uninitialized client state.

Related errors

• config envelope is nil
• Invalid signed proposal during channelless check policy with
• nil Raft config metadata
• '%s' not equal <newest|oldest|config|(number)>
• unmarshalling block: %s

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/45128fbe8ef03d38. Report an issue: GitHub.