What causes "no such block hash [%x] in index" in hyperledger/fabric?

Confirm the hash belongs to this ledger by retrieving the block by number and comparing hashes

no such block hash [%x] in index

Error message

no such block hash [%x] in index

What it means

Redundant duplicate slot kept intentionally: same error as errorIndex 280 — 'no such block hash [%x] in index' from blockIndex.getBlockLocByHash when the index DB has no entry for constructBlockHashKey(blockHash). It signals a lookup miss in the block index, not a DB failure.

Source

Thrown at common/ledger/blkstorage/blockindex.go:163

	}
	return nil
}

func (index *blockIndex) isAttributeIndexed(attribute IndexableAttr) bool {
	_, ok := index.indexItemsMap[attribute]
	return ok
}

func (index *blockIndex) getBlockLocByHash(blockHash []byte) (*fileLocPointer, error) {
	if !index.isAttributeIndexed(IndexableAttrBlockHash) {
		return nil, errors.New("block hashes not maintained in index")
	}
	b, err := index.db.Get(constructBlockHashKey(blockHash))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if b == nil {
		return nil, errors.Errorf("no such block hash [%x] in index", blockHash)
	}
	blkLoc := &fileLocPointer{}
	if err := blkLoc.unmarshal(b); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return blkLoc, nil
}

func (index *blockIndex) getBlockLocByBlockNum(blockNum uint64) (*fileLocPointer, error) {
	if !index.isAttributeIndexed(IndexableAttrBlockNum) {
		return nil, errors.New("block numbers not maintained in index")
	}
	b, err := index.db.Get(constructBlockNumKey(blockNum))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if b == nil {
		return nil, errors.Errorf("no such block number [%d] in index", blockNum)

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

Confirm the hash belongs to this ledger by retrieving the block by number and comparing hashes
Decode hex to raw bytes before lookup
Re-sync/rebuild the block index if entries are missing
Check index configuration includes block-hash indexing

Example fix

// before
blk, err := store.RetrieveBlockByHash([]byte(hexHash))
// after
raw, _ := hex.DecodeString(hexHash)
blk, err := store.RetrieveBlockByHash(raw)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func blockHashIndexed(ledger lgr.PeerLedger, hash []byte) (bool, error) {
    bc, err := ledger.GetBlockchainInfo()
    if err != nil { return false, err }
    blk, err := ledger.GetBlockByNumber(bc.Height - 1)
    if err != nil { return false, err }
    if len(blk.Data.Hash) == 0 { return false, errors.New("index may not maintain block hashes") }
    _ = hash // compare against known block hashes or verify via header before lookup
    return true, nil
}

Type guard

func is32ByteHash(b []byte) bool { return len(b) == 32 }

Try / catch

blk, err := store.RetrieveBlockByHash(hash)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no such block hash") {
        return nil, ErrBlockNotIndexed // handle as not-found, not fatal
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

Decode hex hashes to raw bytes before calling RetrieveBlockByHash
Verify the hash belongs to the target channel's ledger first
Do not disable hash indexing in blockIndexConfig
After restoring snapshots or wiping index DBs, let the peer rebuild/sync the index before serving hash lookups

When it happens

Trigger: retrieveBlockByHash is called with a hash absent from the index: wrong channel, undecoded hex string passed as bytes, or the index lacks the hash entry (index not synced, rebuilt, or partially lost).

Common situations: Cross-channel hash lookups, string-vs-bytes hash handling mistakes, peers with index DBs wiped or recreated without reindexing, snapshots restored without the index.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6ae021c17d7ab087. Report an issue: GitHub.