Incorrect miner values returned by getBlock RPC methods on clique consensus chains

[realdave]

System information

Geth version: 1.10.8
OS & Version: n/a
Commit hash : n/a

Expected behaviour

The miner value returned by JSON-RPC methods eth_getBlockByNumber and eth_getBlockByHash on chains using clique consensus (i.e., Rinkeby) contains a candidate sealer nomination or the zero address.

Actual behaviour

The miner contains the address of the sealer. This breaks the calculation of the block hash by clients calling the above methods.

This behavior changed with 1.10.8, specifically this PR: #23312

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

Invoke eth_getBlockByNumber using block number 9170727. The miner should be 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 but is instead 0x6635F83421Bf059cd8111f180f0727128685BaE4

Backtrace

n/a

[chenjia404]

This just returns miner without modifying coinbase.

[markya0616]

We use the header from ethClient, and try to get its hash. The hash we got is different from the hash in node, because the coinbase is changed.

[rjl493456442]

Looks like the PR #23312 is not a good idea. Perhaps we should revert the change and offer users another RPC https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/22987/files to retrieve the signer(clique specific).

[jeffprestes]

I guess the evidence on this issue can help here: #23463
I invite you to take a look at it.

[tclemos]

In order to put everything in the same place to help gathering information, here are the details of my analysis related to problems with hashes in v1.10.8.

System information

Geth version: 1.10.8
OS & Version: Linux

Expected behaviour

When calling ethclient.Client.HeaderByNumber should return the correct block hash

Actual behaviour

Invalid block hash is returned when Geth version on the server is v1.10.8 and the call is made using the ethclient.Client.HeaderByNumber. The problem also happens when calling the ethclient.Client.BlockByNumber.

I've tried calling the method using the client library with versions v1.10.4, v1.10.5, v1.10.6, v1.10.7 and v1.10.8, the behavior is the same, it seems to be something related to the server response instead of something in the client.

The behaviour is the same independently of the network, we tested it in Goerli and Rinkeby

When making the jsonRPC request directly via HTTP, the hash is correct:

curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_getBlockByNumber","params":["0x504174", false],"id":1}' -H "Content-Type: application/json" --dump-header - <<geth address>>

output:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 11:40:59 GMT
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 1910
Connection: keep-alive
Vary: Origin

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":{"baseFeePerGas":"0x7","difficulty":"0x1","extraData":"0x000000000000436f6e73656e5379732048797065726c65646765722042657375c646a88f9833b01f1bdb897db5890c15c04d932b70cd7eba1d0cab041a0a597c537e7f529e499e759e8205979e9d152a958aede503fa65e12ed7132bb8b869f901","gasLimit":"0x1c9c380","gasUsed":"0x2958c2","hash":"0x3705a71830dab88c25ca3b5765ffba738bea10339d629b4fb225679b5d8be9de","logsBloom":"0x000000008000000040000000100000004000100200000042100000000002020202000406088080400000008010000081000100000400000002800001802020000000010010200002000043080000000280800040100800a002200000080000000408000102000800000002000000080010000002000000001000001480000001000001c0000040600000000800000000000c00000100000002040000800002000200000000400000000000200000000000000100012000000008a00001000000080000020000000000000000000000000000000000090000001000000000224000100000001000008000000010000001000820000000000000008c0010000004","miner":"0x22ea9f6b28db76a7162054c05ed812deb2f519cd","mixHash":"0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000","nonce":"0x0000000000000000","number":"0x504174","parentHash":"0x029c7181addbed120ada15160cb8022641f035ffb5d2d6e08714227122bd30a8","receiptsRoot":"0x63cee320c5f2708a08c9e2d2f67780edbabc01a0b560ba6ababbb9d1188c7766","sha3Uncles":"0x1dcc4de8dec75d7aab85b567b6ccd41ad312451b948a7413f0a142fd40d49347","size":"0xc665","stateRoot":"0x93f5316da7fc3351f57ed5dc030e28cfaefef59d18300ada9a019964b1ded065","timestamp":"0x610a4f50","totalDifficulty":"0x754af2","transactions":["0xdb758e501a9701c65d7522084f83f6e4e3bd2105de90647ca08425727dddf9bf","0x0409bb7eaec02f593ed345ad6df9b835a0c2435e33faad57ae94d433314e4b3a","0x1957dde4c3912da6c9cb22c1e236f40dd8fc652cab15450dff2f4e53081ac13b","0x0d8f5a3c3b9e4b408bbb4150fe7f435cc84b09fa0641423d7173ce1962088a98"],"transactionsRoot":"0xb63e1a997f37e896811c01415bacdc4ee052d9744e0fd6b4d3cbe5cbf86cd08f","uncles":[]}}

it also works properly via when querying via GraphQL:

query {
  block(number:5259636) {
    number
    hash
  }
}

response:

{
  "data": {
    "block": {
      "number": 5259636,
      "hash": "0x3705a71830dab88c25ca3b5765ffba738bea10339d629b4fb225679b5d8be9de"
    }
  }
}

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

Ref block: https://goerli.etherscan.io/block/5259636

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"math/big"

	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/ethclient"
)

const (
	geth_1_10_7_url = ""
	geth_1_10_8_url = ""

	block = 5259636
)

func main() {

	ctx := context.Background()

	client_1_10_7, err := ethclient.Dial(geth_1_10_7_url)
	panicErr(err)

	client_1_10_8, err := ethclient.Dial(geth_1_10_8_url)
	panicErr(err)

	b_1_10_7, err := client_1_10_7.HeaderByNumber(ctx, big.NewInt(block))
	panicErr(err)

	b_1_10_8, err := client_1_10_8.HeaderByNumber(ctx, big.NewInt(block))
	panicErr(err)

	fmt.Printf("Number - b_1_10_7: %v b_1_10_8: %v\n", b_1_10_7.Number, b_1_10_8.Number)
	fmt.Printf("Hash - b_1_10_7: %v b_1_10_8: %v\n", b_1_10_7.Hash(), b_1_10_8.Hash())
	fmt.Printf("Hash Hex - b_1_10_7: %v b_1_10_8: %v\n", b_1_10_7.Hash().Hex(), b_1_10_8.Hash().Hex())

	if b_1_10_7.Number.Cmp(b_1_10_8.Number) != 0 {
		panic("hold on, wait a minute, different block number")
	}

	if b_1_10_7.Hash() != b_1_10_8.Hash() {
		panic("hold on, wait a minute, different block hash")
	}

	if b_1_10_7.Hash().Hex() != b_1_10_8.Hash().Hex() {
		panic("hold on, wait a minute, diffferent block hash hex")
	}
}

func panicErr(err error) {
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
}

output:

Number - b_1_10_7: 5259636 b_1_10_8: 5259636
Hash - b_1_10_7: 0x3705a71830dab88c25ca3b5765ffba738bea10339d629b4fb225679b5d8be9de b_1_10_8: 0xc7c6eee418abf033c0d1247598dc73ad39e047573fe703c8e995716534725cee
Hash Hex - b_1_10_7: 0x3705a71830dab88c25ca3b5765ffba738bea10339d629b4fb225679b5d8be9de b_1_10_8: 0xc7c6eee418abf033c0d1247598dc73ad39e047573fe703c8e995716534725cee
panic: hold on, wait a minute, different block hash