Summary
The Lighthouse validator container enters a startup crash-loop whenever the configured GRAFFITI contains a space. A graffiti with spaces worked on earlier versions, so this is a regression. While the container restarts endlessly it never loads its keys, so all validators go active_offline and miss attestations until the graffiti is changed — with no error surfaced in the UI.
Error
[INFO - entrypoint] Starting lighthouse validator with flags: ... --graffiti=my cool graffiti ...
error: unexpected argument 'cool' found
Usage: lighthouse validator_client [OPTIONS]
(here the graffiti was my cool graffiti)
Root cause
In /usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh, every flag is flattened into a single string that is then expanded unquoted:
FLAGS="--debug-level=$LOG_LEVEL \
--network=$NETWORK \
validator \
...
--graffiti=$VALID_GRAFFITI \
...
--suggested-fee-recipient=$VALID_FEE_RECIPIENT ${MEVBOOST_FLAG} ${EXTRA_OPTS}"
# shellcheck disable=SC2086
exec lighthouse $FLAGSThe unquoted $FLAGS word-splits on every space. That is intended for splitting the optional flags (MEVBOOST_FLAG, EXTRA_OPTS), but it also splits any flag value that contains spaces. So --graffiti=my cool graffiti becomes three arguments — --graffiti=my, cool, graffiti — and Lighthouse rejects cool as an unexpected positional argument.
get_valid_graffiti() does not help — it only truncates to 32 chars, it does not sanitize or quote spaces:
valid_graffiti=$(echo "$graffiti" | cut -c 1-32)
Impact
A graffiti containing spaces is a very common choice. On the next package update / container recreation the validator silently crash-loops and stops attesting until the user notices and removes the spaces. This is easy to miss (no UI error) and directly costs attestation rewards.
Suggested fix
Build the command as a positional-parameter array and quote the values, so flag values with spaces survive word-splitting. For example:
set -- \
--debug-level="$LOG_LEVEL" \
--network="$NETWORK" \
validator \
--init-slashing-protection \
--datadir="$DATA_DIR" \
--beacon-nodes="$BEACON_API_URL${BACKUP_BEACON_NODES:+,$BACKUP_BEACON_NODES}" \
--graffiti="$VALID_GRAFFITI" \
--http --http-address 0.0.0.0 --http-port="$VALIDATOR_PORT" \
--http-allow-origin='*' --unencrypted-http-transport \
--metrics --metrics-address=0.0.0.0 --metrics-port=8008 --metrics-allow-origin='*' \
--suggested-fee-recipient="$VALID_FEE_RECIPIENT"
# only the genuinely optional, multi-token flags stay unquoted
# shellcheck disable=SC2086
exec lighthouse "$@" $MEVBOOST_FLAG $EXTRA_OPTSAt minimum, --graffiti must be passed as its own quoted argument rather than embedded in an unquoted string.
Environment
- Package:
DAppNodePackage-lighthouse-generic (validator image 0.1.22)
- Network: Gnosis
- Lighthouse
v8.2.0
- Reproduce: set any validator graffiti that contains a space, then (re)start the validator package.
🐛 Bug flagged by NandyBa, reported by Claude.
Summary
The Lighthouse validator container enters a startup crash-loop whenever the configured
GRAFFITIcontains a space. A graffiti with spaces worked on earlier versions, so this is a regression. While the container restarts endlessly it never loads its keys, so all validators goactive_offlineand miss attestations until the graffiti is changed — with no error surfaced in the UI.Error
(here the graffiti was
my cool graffiti)Root cause
In
/usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh, every flag is flattened into a single string that is then expanded unquoted:The unquoted
$FLAGSword-splits on every space. That is intended for splitting the optional flags (MEVBOOST_FLAG,EXTRA_OPTS), but it also splits any flag value that contains spaces. So--graffiti=my cool graffitibecomes three arguments —--graffiti=my,cool,graffiti— and Lighthouse rejectscoolas an unexpected positional argument.get_valid_graffiti()does not help — it only truncates to 32 chars, it does not sanitize or quote spaces:valid_graffiti=$(echo "$graffiti" | cut -c 1-32)Impact
A graffiti containing spaces is a very common choice. On the next package update / container recreation the validator silently crash-loops and stops attesting until the user notices and removes the spaces. This is easy to miss (no UI error) and directly costs attestation rewards.
Suggested fix
Build the command as a positional-parameter array and quote the values, so flag values with spaces survive word-splitting. For example:
At minimum,
--graffitimust be passed as its own quoted argument rather than embedded in an unquoted string.Environment
DAppNodePackage-lighthouse-generic(validator image0.1.22)v8.2.0🐛 Bug flagged by NandyBa, reported by Claude.