signrawtransactionwithkey command shouldn't output the "Witness program was passed an empty witness" error for a TapRoot transaction

GregTonoski commented at 4:27 pm on February 1, 2023: none

There is the irrelevant error message output by the signrawtransactionwithkey command.

Expected behavior

Hex string of the raw transaction with signature OR meaningful message about an alternative way to achieve one.

Actual behavior

 0{
 1  "hex": "0200000001a2c0d82460883696219dbca6f545f72963b2b3ee085d832eb5ef9a69a374af160000000000fdffffff01e011000000000000225120052e44f45a6e381be8e06d3f3362b58034a68ba98081e24de7bfc5795420a90b00000000",
 2  "complete": false,
 3  "errors": [
 4    {
 5      "txid": "16af74a3699aefb52e835d08eeb3b26329f745f5a6bc9d219636886024d8c0a2",
 6      "vout": 0,
 7      "witness": [
 8      ],
 9      "scriptSig": "",
10      "sequence": 4294967293,
11      "error": "Witness program was passed an empty witness"
12    }
13  ]
14}

To reproduce

0
1$ signrawtransactionwithkey "02000000011157667b81a1a4e688938c42ee7cdea23761cb7622a3476f0bc8ace7d0ec523100000000000000000001e8030000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000" '["cUTFbLPUaBAPmTKwjcDs4rWHUSEUbUBfkPMogrbTmQFnJA3vgrLE"]' '[{"txid": "3152ecd0e7acc80b6f47a32276cb6137a2de7cee428c9388e6a4a1817b665711", "vout": 0, "scriptPubKey": "5120c38859777bc9c3294d3587035fc3823a146dabaab1fa250bc04e92f16887a065", "amount": 0.00004242}]' "DEFAULT"

System information

Console in Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 portable, Windows 11. (Occurs in both cases of a descriptor wallet loaded and not loaded). Hint: signrawtransactionwithwallet works fine if preceded with the importdescriptors ‘[{“desc”: “tr(cUTFbLPUaBAPmTKwjcDs4rWHUSEUbUBfkPMogrbTmQFnJA3vgrLE)#tdkpah70”, “timestamp”: “now”}]’

GregTonoski added the label Bug on Feb 1, 2023

maflcko added the label RPC/REST/ZMQ on Feb 2, 2023

willcl-ark commented at 1:16 pm on February 20, 2023: member

The output of help signrawtransactionwithkey states:

 03. prevtxs                          (json array, optional) The previous dependent transaction outputs
 1     [
 2       {                            (json object)
 3         "txid": "hex",             (string, required) The transaction id
 4         "vout": n,                 (numeric, required) The output number
 5         "scriptPubKey": "hex",     (string, required) script key
 6         "redeemScript": "hex",     (string) (required for P2SH) redeem script
 7         "witnessScript": "hex",    (string) (required for P2WSH or P2SH-P2WSH) witness script
 8         "amount": amount,          (numeric or string) (required for Segwit inputs) the amount spent
 9       },
10       ...
11     ]

You pass as the prevtxs argument:

0[
1  {
2    "txid": "3152ecd0e7acc80b6f47a32276cb6137a2de7cee428c9388e6a4a1817b665711",
3    "vout": 0,
4    "scriptPubKey": "5120c38859777bc9c3294d3587035fc3823a146dabaab1fa250bc04e92f16887a065",
5    "amount": 0.00004242
6  }
7]

And the error message states that:

0"error": "Witness program was passed an empty witness"

Assuming that txid: 3152ecd0e7acc80b6f47a32276cb6137a2de7cee428c9388e6a4a1817b665711 is a V1 P2TR output, then it will need a valid witnessScript element to be supplied to avoid hitting the returned script error..

If using the key path to spend theoutput can be spent with the secret key corresponding to the internal_pubkey using a witness stack consisting of a single element: a BIP340 signature on the signature hash.

What error message would you consider to be more appropriate here?

 0will@ubuntu in …/src/bitcoin/src on  master [$?⇕] via C v12.2.0-gcc
 1₿ bitcoin-cli -regtest importdescriptors '[{"desc": "tr(cUTFbLPUaBAPmTKwjcDs4rWHUSEUbUBfkPMogrbTmQFnJA3vgrLE)#tdkpah70", "timestamp": "now"}]'
 2[
 3  {
 4    "success": true
 5  }
 6]
 7
 8will@ubuntu in …/src/bitcoin/src on  master [$?⇕] via C v12.2.0-gcc
 9₿ bitcoin-cli -regtest signrawtransactionwithkey "02000000011157667b81a1a4e688938c42ee7cdea23761cb7622a3476f0bc8ace7d0ec523100000000000000000001e8030000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000" '["cUTFbLPUaBAPmTKwjcDs4rWHUSEUbUBfkPMogrbTmQFnJA3vgrLE"]' '[{"txid": "3152ecd0e7acc80b6f47a32276cb6137a2de7cee428c9388e6a4a1817b665711", "vout": 0, "scriptPubKey": "5120c38859777bc9c3294d3587035fc3823a146dabaab1fa250bc04e92f16887a065", "amount": 0.00004242}]' "DEFAULT"
10{
11  "hex": "02000000011157667b81a1a4e688938c42ee7cdea23761cb7622a3476f0bc8ace7d0ec523100000000000000000001e8030000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000",
12  "complete": false,
13  "errors": [
14    {
15      "txid": "3152ecd0e7acc80b6f47a32276cb6137a2de7cee428c9388e6a4a1817b665711",
16      "vout": 0,
17      "witness": [
18      ],
19      "scriptSig": "",
20      "sequence": 0,
21      "error": "Witness program was passed an empty witness"
22    }
23  ]
24}

GregTonoski commented at 8:54 am on February 21, 2023: none

I could not replicate your success behaviour after importing the descriptor:

The success behaviour is different from the not-replicated one:

Hint: signrawtransactionwithwallet works fine if preceded with the importdescriptors ‘[{“desc”: “tr(cUTFbLPUaBAPmTKwjcDs4rWHUSEUbUBfkPMogrbTmQFnJA3vgrLE)#tdkpah70”, “timestamp”: “now”}]’

achow101 commented at 5:52 pm on February 21, 2023: member

signrawtransactionwithkey does not currently support taproot (and it is not clear whether it ever will) as there is not enough information provided with just a private key in order to be able to sign such transactions.

The raw transaction workflow is basically deprecated in favor of using PSBTs. Signing with just keys is also basically deprecated in favor of using descriptors.

bitcoin deleted a comment on Mar 4, 2023

pinheadmz commented at 1:55 pm on April 27, 2023: member

This issue is unlikely to be fixed in Bitcoin Core. We’ll close for now, but feel free to open another issue or pull request with a fix.

pinheadmz closed this on Apr 27, 2023

GregTonoski commented at 8:27 pm on December 21, 2023: none

Seems to be fixed in 26.0. Thanks.

Example:

0./bitcoin-cli.exe -testnet signrawtransactionwithkey 020000000165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000 '["cV628xvqToz45dwdPmTcJ9RgEVnWMwP8dpZBGzb9LfTk3sBHFNwc"]' '[{"txid":"963acf55621b4e5b6f286b37c0bee236a9f11b9677dbca77012b86ac0a75ef65","vout":0,"scriptPubKey":"512055355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116","amount":0.00008000}]'
1{
2  "hex": "0200000000010165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec87860140308269219d1226be9f9da12d9a816e56fc6fb8f51c987c21c286687dfada7174c2070a8f18c475bca939ba2dd3c5af8762cfddd0dac190ed1dfbc51eb060763a00000000",
3  "complete": true
4}

JeffXu1 commented at 8:55 am on August 29, 2024: none

Seems to be fixed in 26.0. Thanks.

Example:

0./bitcoin-cli.exe -testnet signrawtransactionwithkey 020000000165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000 '["cV628xvqToz45dwdPmTcJ9RgEVnWMwP8dpZBGzb9LfTk3sBHFNwc"]' '[{"txid":"963acf55621b4e5b6f286b37c0bee236a9f11b9677dbca77012b86ac0a75ef65","vout":0,"scriptPubKey":"512055355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116","amount":0.00008000}]'
1{
2  "hex": "0200000000010165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec87860140308269219d1226be9f9da12d9a816e56fc6fb8f51c987c21c286687dfada7174c2070a8f18c475bca939ba2dd3c5af8762cfddd0dac190ed1dfbc51eb060763a00000000",
3  "complete": true
4}

it works for taproot address on mainnet?

GregTonoski commented at 10:14 am on August 29, 2024: none

it works for taproot address on mainnet?

It worked for TapRoot addresses on both testnet and mainnet in my case.

saikiran57 commented at 1:48 pm on April 21, 2025: none

Hi @GregTonoski Example: ./bitcoin-cli.exe -testnet signrawtransactionwithkey 020000000165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec878600000000 '["cV628xvqToz45dwdPmTcJ9RgEVnWMwP8dpZBGzb9LfTk3sBHFNwc"]' '[{"txid":"963acf55621b4e5b6f286b37c0bee236a9f11b9677dbca77012b86ac0a75ef65","vout":0,"scriptPubKey":"512055355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116","amount":0.00008000}]' { "hex": "0200000000010165ef750aac862b0177cadb77961bf1a936e2bec0376b286f5b4e1b6255cf3a960000000000fdffffff012c1a0000000000002251203b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec87860140308269219d1226be9f9da12d9a816e56fc6fb8f51c987c21c286687dfada7174c2070a8f18c475bca939ba2dd3c5af8762cfddd0dac190ed1dfbc51eb060763a00000000", "complete": true }

this transaction has been successfully signed with the private key.

But if you try with new with latest bip86 address (which is will be locked to tweaked pub key instead of x-only public key) In your previous example address is generated from x-only public key instead of tweaked public key. Bitcoin core signwithprivatekey accepting x-only public key as input that’s why its working.

`private key wif : cV628xvqToz45dwdPmTcJ9RgEVnWMwP8dpZBGzb9LfTk3sBHFNwc private key : b’dff1c8c2c016a572914b4c5adb8791d62b4768ae9d0a61be8ab94cf5038d7d90' Public key : 0255355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116 X-Only Public key : 55355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116 Tweaked Public key : (‘3b82b2b2a9185315da6f80da5f06d0440d8a5e1457fa93387c2d919c86ec8786’, True) taproot address : tb1p8wpt9v4frpf3tkn0srd97pksgsxc5hs52lafxwru9kgeephvs7rqlqt9zj

address generated with x-only pubkey: tb1p2564e2pujul3m97wpcuy8jza0zg94uttfhznr0zg3etjztfrqytq7n93n2 Tweaked key: 55355ca83c973f1d97ce0e3843c85d78905af16b4dc531bc488e57212d230116`

GregTonoski commented at 2:15 pm on April 21, 2025: none

Is it related to the bug bitcoin#31589, perhaps?

saikiran57 commented at 2:33 pm on April 21, 2025: none

Its not related to bug #31589,

you can see this line https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/script/sign.cpp#L477 it is consider the XOnlyPubKey{vSolutions[0]} instead of tweaked public key. So that’s why when signing https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/script/sign.cpp#L67 it returns false because output is locked to tweaked public key where as we are searching for x-only-public key.

signrawtransactionwithkey command shouldn’t output the “Witness program was passed an empty witness” error for a TapRoot transaction #27017