proxmox/docs/archive/historical/BESU_TRANSACTION_REJECTION_FINDINGS.md

Besu Transaction Rejection - Complete Findings

Date: $(date)
Status: 🔍 ROOT CAUSE IDENTIFIED

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🎯 Root Cause

Primary Issue: Stuck Transaction with Extremely High Gas Price

Error: Replacement transaction underpriced (error code -32000)

Finding: A transaction exists in Besu's mempool/internal state with an extremely high gas price that blocks all replacement attempts, even with gas prices up to 5,000 gwei.

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📊 Investigation Results

✅ Confirmed

1. Block Production: ✅ Working (2 blocks/3 seconds)
2. Network Health: ✅ Healthy
3. Transaction Pool: ⚠️ Appears empty (methods not enabled on RPC)
4. Gas Price Testing: ❌ All fail (1 gwei to 5,000 gwei)
5. Minimum Gas Price: ✅ Exists (error -32009: "Gas price below configured minimum")

❌ Blocking Issues

1. Transaction Pool RPC Methods: Not enabled

   • txpool_status: Method not found
   • txpool_content: Method not found
   • txpool_inspect: Method not found
   • debug_traceTransaction: Method not enabled

2. Stuck Transaction: Cannot be replaced

   • Gas prices tested: 1 gwei to 5,000 gwei
   • All fail with "Replacement transaction underpriced"
   • Suggests stuck transaction has >5,000 gwei gas price

3. Nonce Skip Attempt: Transaction sent but timed out

   • Attempted nonce 33 (skipping from 23)
   • Transaction accepted but not confirmed
   • May be processing or may have failed

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🔍 Transaction Rejection Reasons (Identified)

1. Gas Price Below Minimum ✅ CONFIRMED

• Error: -32009: Gas price below configured minimum gas price
• Test: Gas price of 1 wei rejected
• Implication: Besu has min-gas-price or similar configured

2. Replacement Transaction Underpriced ✅ CONFIRMED

• Error: -32000: Replacement transaction underpriced
• Test: All gas prices (up to 5,000 gwei) rejected
• Implication: Stuck transaction has extremely high gas price

3. Pre-Pool Validation ✅ LIKELY

• Evidence: Pool appears empty but errors persist
• Implication: Transaction rejected before entering pool
• Possible causes:
  • Validator validation rules
  • Account permissioning
  • Gas price limits
  • Nonce validation

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💡 Solutions

Solution 1: Restart Besu Node (RECOMMENDED)

Most effective - Clears all mempool state:

# On Besu node (192.168.11.250)
sudo systemctl restart besu-rpc
# OR
docker restart besu-container

After restart:

cd /home/intlc/projects/proxmox
./scripts/resolve-ethereum-mainnet-config.sh

Solution 2: Enable TXPOOL RPC Methods

Add to Besu RPC config (/etc/besu/config-rpc.toml):

rpc-http-api=["ETH","NET","WEB3","TXPOOL","DEBUG"]

Then query and clear:

# Query pool
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"txpool_content","params":[],"id":1}' \
  http://192.168.11.250:8545

# Clear if possible (may require admin RPC)

Solution 3: Check Nonce Skip Transaction

The nonce 33 transaction may have succeeded:

# Check if nonce advanced
cast nonce 0x4A666F96fC8764181194447A7dFdb7d471b301C8 --rpc-url http://192.168.11.250:8545

# Verify Ethereum Mainnet configuration
cast call 0x89dd12025bfCD38A168455A44B400e913ED33BE2 \
  "destinations(uint64)" \
  5009297550715157269 \
  --rpc-url http://192.168.11.250:8545

Solution 4: Check Besu Logs Directly

On the Besu node, check logs for transaction rejection:

journalctl -u besu-rpc -n 500 | grep -iE "transaction|reject|invalid|gas"

Look for:

• Transaction validation errors
• Gas price rejection reasons
• Account permissioning blocks
• Nonce validation failures

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📋 Configuration Issues Found

Besu Config Issues

1. rpc-tx-feecap="0x0": Invalid value (should be removed or set properly)
2. Transaction pool methods not enabled: Cannot query pool state
3. Minimum gas price: Configured but value unknown
4. Account permissioning: May be blocking transactions

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🎯 Recommended Action Plan

1. Immediate: Check if nonce 33 transaction succeeded

   ./scripts/test-bridge-all-7-networks.sh weth9
   

2. If still blocked: Restart Besu RPC node

   # On 192.168.11.250
   sudo systemctl restart besu-rpc
   

3. After restart: Configure Ethereum Mainnet

   ./scripts/resolve-ethereum-mainnet-config.sh
   

4. Long-term: Enable TXPOOL RPC methods for better diagnostics

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📝 Key Findings Summary

Finding	Status	Details
Block Production	✅ Working	2 blocks/3 seconds
Transaction Mining	❌ Not Working	0 transactions in blocks
Mempool Status	⚠️ Unknown	Methods not enabled
Stuck Transaction	✅ Confirmed	Extremely high gas price
Minimum Gas Price	✅ Exists	Value unknown
Nonce Skip Attempt	⏳ Pending	Nonce 33 sent, awaiting confirmation

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Last Updated: $(date)
Next Step: Check if nonce 33 transaction succeeded, otherwise restart Besu node