native: rework native NEO next block validators cache

Blockchain passes his own pure unwrapped DAO to
(*Blockchain).ComputeNextBlockValidators which means that native
RW NEO cache structure stored inside this DAO can be modified by
anyone who uses exported ComputeNextBlockValidators Blockchain API,
and technically it's valid, and we should allow this, because it's
the only purpose of `validators` caching. However, at the same time
some RPC server is allowed to request a subsequent wrapped DAO for
some test invocation. It means that descendant wrapped DAO
eventually will request RW NEO cache and try to `Copy()`
the underlying's DAO cache which is in direct use of
ComputeNextBlockValidators. Here's the race:
ComputeNextBlockValidators called by Consensus service tries to
update cached `validators` value, and descendant wrapped DAO
created by the  RPC server tries to copy DAO's native cache and
read the cached `validators` value.

So the problem is that native cache not designated to handle
concurrent access between parent DAO layer and derived (wrapped)
DAO layer. I've carefully reviewed all the usages of native cache,
and turns out that the described situation is the only place where
parent DAO is used directly to modify its cache concurrently with
some descendant DAO that is trying to access the cache. All other
usages of native cache (not only NEO, but also all other native
contrcts) strictly rely on the hierarchical DAO structure and don't
try to perform these concurrent operations between DAO layers.
There's also persist operation, but it keeps cache RW lock taken,
so it doesn't have this problem as far. Thus, in this commit we rework
NEO's `validators` cache value so that it always contain the relevant
list for upper Blockchain's DAO and is updated every PostPersist (if
needed).

Note: we must be very careful extending our native cache in the
future, every usage of native cache must be checked against the
described problem.

Close #2989.

Signed-off-by: Anna Shaleva <shaleva.ann@nspcc.ru>

pkg/consensus/consensus.go

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ type Ledger interface {
 	GetNextBlockValidators() ([]*keys.PublicKey, error)
 	GetStateRoot(height uint32) (*state.MPTRoot, error)
 	GetTransaction(util.Uint256) (*transaction.Transaction, uint32, error)
-	GetValidators() ([]*keys.PublicKey, error)
+	GetValidators() []*keys.PublicKey
 	PoolTx(t *transaction.Transaction, pools ...*mempool.Pool) error
 	SubscribeForBlocks(ch chan *coreb.Block)
 	UnsubscribeFromBlocks(ch chan *coreb.Block)
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@ func (s *service) getValidators(txes ...block.Transaction) []crypto.PublicKey {
 	if txes == nil {
 		pKeys, err = s.Chain.GetNextBlockValidators()
 	} else {
-		pKeys, err = s.Chain.GetValidators()
+		pKeys = s.Chain.GetValidators()
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		s.log.Error("error while trying to get validators", zap.Error(err))
@@ -725,7 +725,7 @@ func (s *service) newBlockFromContext(ctx *dbft.Context) block.Block {
 	var err error
 	cfg := s.Chain.GetConfig().ProtocolConfiguration
 	if cfg.ShouldUpdateCommitteeAt(ctx.BlockIndex) {
-		validators, err = s.Chain.GetValidators()
+		validators = s.Chain.GetValidators()
 	} else {
 		validators, err = s.Chain.GetNextBlockValidators()
 	}

pkg/core/blockchain.go

@@ -2697,12 +2697,18 @@ func (bc *Blockchain) GetCommittee() (keys.PublicKeys, error) {
 	return pubs, nil
 }
 
-// GetValidators returns current validators.
+// GetValidators returns current validators. Validators list returned from this
-func (bc *Blockchain) GetValidators() ([]*keys.PublicKey, error) {
+// method may be updated every block (depending on register/unregister/vote
-	return bc.contracts.NEO.ComputeNextBlockValidators(bc.blockHeight, bc.dao)
+// calls to NeoToken contract), not only once per (committee size) number of
+// blocks.
+func (bc *Blockchain) GetValidators() []*keys.PublicKey {
+	return bc.contracts.NEO.ComputeNextBlockValidators(bc.dao)
 }
 
-// GetNextBlockValidators returns next block validators.
+// GetNextBlockValidators returns next block validators. Validators list returned
+// from this method is the sorted top NumOfCNs number of public keys from the
+// current committee, thus, validators list returned from this method is being
+// updated once per (committee size) number of blocks.
 func (bc *Blockchain) GetNextBlockValidators() ([]*keys.PublicKey, error) {
 	return bc.contracts.NEO.GetNextBlockValidatorsInternal(bc.dao), nil
 }

pkg/core/blockchain_core_test.go

@@ -261,8 +261,7 @@ func TestChainWithVolatileNumOfValidators(t *testing.T) {
 
 	priv0 := testchain.PrivateKeyByID(0)
 
-	vals, err := bc.GetValidators()
+	vals := bc.GetValidators()
-	require.NoError(t, err)
 	script, err := smartcontract.CreateDefaultMultiSigRedeemScript(vals)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	curWit := transaction.Witness{
@@ -280,7 +279,7 @@ func TestChainWithVolatileNumOfValidators(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		// Mimic consensus.
 		if bc.config.ShouldUpdateCommitteeAt(uint32(i)) {
-			vals, err = bc.GetValidators()
+			vals = bc.GetValidators()
 		} else {
 			vals, err = bc.GetNextBlockValidators()
 		}

pkg/core/native/native_neo.go

@@ -50,6 +50,11 @@ type NeoCache struct {
 
 	votesChanged   bool
 	nextValidators keys.PublicKeys
+	// validators contains cached next block validators. This list is updated every
+	// PostPersist if candidates votes ratio has been changed or register/unregister
+	// operation was performed within the persisted block. The updated value is
+	// being persisted following the standard layered DAO persist rules, so that
+	// external users will always get the proper value with upper Blockchain's DAO.
 	validators keys.PublicKeys
 	// committee contains cached committee members and their votes.
 	// It is updated once in a while depending on committee size
@@ -269,6 +274,7 @@ func (n *NEO) Initialize(ic *interop.Context) error {
 	cache := &NeoCache{
 		gasPerVoteCache: make(map[string]big.Int),
 		votesChanged:    true,
+		validators:      nil, // will be updated in genesis PostPersist.
 	}
 
 	// We need cache to be present in DAO before the subsequent call to `mint`.
@@ -325,6 +331,12 @@ func (n *NEO) InitializeCache(blockHeight uint32, d *dao.Simple) error {
 	cache.gasPerBlock = n.getSortedGASRecordFromDAO(d)
 	cache.registerPrice = getIntWithKey(n.ID, d, []byte{prefixRegisterPrice})
 
+	numOfCNs := n.cfg.GetNumOfCNs(blockHeight + 1)
+	err := n.updateCachedValidators(d, cache, blockHeight, numOfCNs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to update next block validators cache: %w", err)
+	}
+
 	d.SetCache(n.ID, cache)
 	return nil
 }
@@ -353,6 +365,20 @@ func (n *NEO) updateCache(cache *NeoCache, cvs keysWithVotes, blockHeight uint32
 	return nil
 }
 
+// updateCachedValidators sets validators cache that will be used by external users
+// to retrieve next block validators list. Thus, it stores the list of validators
+// computed using the currently persisted block state.
+func (n *NEO) updateCachedValidators(d *dao.Simple, cache *NeoCache, blockHeight uint32, numOfCNs int) error {
+	result, _, err := n.computeCommitteeMembers(blockHeight, d)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to compute committee members: %w", err)
+	}
+	result = result[:numOfCNs]
+	sort.Sort(result)
+	cache.validators = result
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (n *NEO) updateCommittee(cache *NeoCache, ic *interop.Context) error {
 	if !cache.votesChanged {
 		// We need to put in storage anyway, as it affects dumps
@@ -399,6 +425,7 @@ func (n *NEO) PostPersist(ic *interop.Context) error {
 	committeeReward := new(big.Int).Mul(gas, bigCommitteeRewardRatio)
 	n.GAS.mint(ic, pubs[index].GetScriptHash(), committeeReward.Div(committeeReward, big100), false)
 
+	var isCacheRW bool
 	if n.cfg.ShouldUpdateCommitteeAt(ic.Block.Index) {
 		var voterReward = new(big.Int).Set(bigVoterRewardRatio)
 		voterReward.Mul(voterReward, gas)
@@ -409,7 +436,6 @@ func (n *NEO) PostPersist(ic *interop.Context) error {
 
 		var (
 			cs  = cache.committee
-			isCacheRW bool
 			key = make([]byte, 34)
 		)
 		for i := range cs {
@@ -437,6 +463,21 @@ func (n *NEO) PostPersist(ic *interop.Context) error {
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	// Update next block validators cache for external users.
+	var (
+		h        = ic.Block.Index // consider persisting block as stored to get _next_ block validators
+		numOfCNs = n.cfg.GetNumOfCNs(h + 1)
+	)
+	if cache.validators == nil || numOfCNs != len(cache.validators) {
+		if !isCacheRW {
+			cache = ic.DAO.GetRWCache(n.ID).(*NeoCache)
+		}
+		err := n.updateCachedValidators(ic.DAO, cache, h, numOfCNs)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed to update next block validators cache: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -1042,24 +1083,21 @@ func (n *NEO) getAccountState(ic *interop.Context, args []stackitem.Item) stacki
 	return item
 }
 
-// ComputeNextBlockValidators returns an actual list of current validators.
+// ComputeNextBlockValidators computes an actual list of current validators that is
-func (n *NEO) ComputeNextBlockValidators(blockHeight uint32, d *dao.Simple) (keys.PublicKeys, error) {
+// relevant for the latest persisted block and based on the latest changes made by
-	numOfCNs := n.cfg.GetNumOfCNs(blockHeight + 1)
+// register/unregister/vote calls.
-	// Most of the time it should be OK with RO cache, thus try to retrieve
+// Note: this method isn't actually "computes" new committee list and calculates
-	// validators without RW cache creation to avoid cached values copying.
+// new validators list from it. Instead, it uses cache, but the cache itself is
+// updated every block.
+func (n *NEO) ComputeNextBlockValidators(d *dao.Simple) keys.PublicKeys {
+	// It should always be OK with RO cache if using lower-layered DAO with proper
+	// cache set.
 	cache := d.GetROCache(n.ID).(*NeoCache)
-	if vals := cache.validators; vals != nil && numOfCNs == len(vals) {
+	if vals := cache.validators; vals != nil {
-		return vals.Copy(), nil
+		return vals.Copy()
 	}
-	cache = d.GetRWCache(n.ID).(*NeoCache)
+	// It's a program error not to have the right value in lower cache.
-	result, _, err := n.computeCommitteeMembers(blockHeight, d)
+	panic(fmt.Errorf("unexpected validators cache content: %v", cache.validators))
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	result = result[:numOfCNs]
-	sort.Sort(result)
-	cache.validators = result
-	return result, nil
 }
 
 func (n *NEO) getCommittee(ic *interop.Context, _ []stackitem.Item) stackitem.Item {

pkg/core/native/native_test/neo_test.go

@@ -138,8 +138,7 @@ func TestNEO_Vote(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	standBySorted = standBySorted[:validatorsCount]
 	sort.Sort(standBySorted)
-	pubs, err := e.Chain.GetValidators()
+	pubs := e.Chain.GetValidators()
-	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, standBySorted, keys.PublicKeys(pubs))
 
 	// voters vote for candidates. The aim of this test is to check if voting
@@ -176,7 +175,7 @@ func TestNEO_Vote(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	// We still haven't voted enough validators in.
-	pubs, err = e.Chain.GetValidators()
+	pubs = e.Chain.GetValidators()
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.Equal(t, standBySorted, keys.PublicKeys(pubs))
 
@@ -267,8 +266,7 @@ func TestNEO_Vote(t *testing.T) {
 
 	advanceChain(t)
 
-	pubs, err = e.Chain.GetValidators()
+	pubs = e.Chain.GetValidators()
-	require.NoError(t, err)
 	for i := range pubs {
 		require.NotEqual(t, candidates[0], pubs[i])
 		require.NotEqual(t, candidates[len(candidates)-1], pubs[i])