[GOWS] Group messages with senderKeyDistributionMessage still lost on 2026.9.1 (follow-up to #2242)

[renatomprado]

Describe the bug

Follow-up to #2242 (closed, fix listed in 2026.8.2). On 2026.9.1 (CORE, GOWS) group text messages that carry a senderKeyDistributionMessage are still stored without content in a @lid group, about 35% of the group's texts. I also left a comment on #2242 with the same data.

Affected rows in gows_messages have Info.Type: "text" and a Message with only:

{ "senderKeyDistributionMessage": { "groupID": "…@g.us", "axolotlSenderKeyDistributionMessage": "…" },
  "messageContextInfo": { "deviceListMetadata": { … } } }

plus IsReal: false, Status: 4, RetryCount: 0, UnavailableRequestID: "". RawMessage has the same envelope and no content, so the text cannot be recovered from the database.

Numbers (2026-09-04 to 2026-10-01, text messages only)

Period	Texts	Without body
2026-09-04 to 15	137	47 (34%)
2026-09-16 to 30	186	73 (39%)
2026-10-01 (partial day)	4	3

The loss continues after the container moved to 2026.9.1 (image created 2026-09-27).

Concrete example (2026-09-30)

The group had 7 text messages that day and 5 arrived envelope-only. I confirmed all 5 in the WhatsApp app, where they are normal text messages. One sender's first message (long text) arrived envelope-only at 14:53:47 UTC, and that sender's follow-up two seconds later (14:53:49) decrypted normally. This matches the "the sender's next message recovers" pattern from #2242.

Other observations

• The list API (GET /api/{session}/chats/{id}/messages) only returns is_real = 1 rows, so these messages are invisible there. Only reading the SQLite directly reveals them.
• No decrypt error at the default log level for these rows in the group, and no retry receipt is requested (RetryCount stays 0).

Expected behavior

Messages carrying a new sender key in @lid groups should decrypt (or trigger a retry receipt), as described as fixed in 2026.8.2.

Versions

• WAHA 2026.9.1, engine GOWS, tier CORE
• Group AddressingMode: "lid", session receiving as a linked device

Happy to provide a redacted gows.db row or run any debug build or log level that would help.