blockheaders include block height, nodes validate it

The block height validation is gated by the startup option
`con_blockheightinheader`, accesible in custom chains only
using option `chain=<name>`. Only if set to true will this
field be (de)serialized and evaluated in consensus logic.
Otherwise the field is simply ignored, other than being
stored in memory as the default value 0.

Author: instagibbs

src/chain.h

@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ class CBlockIndex
     int32_t nVersion;
     uint256 hashMerkleRoot;
     uint32_t nTime;
+    uint32_t block_height;
     uint32_t nBits;
     uint32_t nNonce;
 
@@ -238,6 +239,7 @@ class CBlockIndex
         nVersion       = 0;
         hashMerkleRoot = uint256();
         nTime          = 0;
+        block_height   = 0;
         nBits          = 0;
         nNonce         = 0;
     }
@@ -254,6 +256,7 @@ class CBlockIndex
         nVersion       = block.nVersion;
         hashMerkleRoot = block.hashMerkleRoot;
         nTime          = block.nTime;
+        block_height   = block.block_height;
         nBits          = block.nBits;
         nNonce         = block.nNonce;
     }
@@ -284,6 +287,7 @@ class CBlockIndex
             block.hashPrevBlock = pprev->GetBlockHash();
         block.hashMerkleRoot = hashMerkleRoot;
         block.nTime          = nTime;
+        block.block_height   = block_height;
         block.nBits          = nBits;
         block.nNonce         = nNonce;
         return block;
@@ -403,6 +407,7 @@ class CDiskBlockIndex : public CBlockIndex
         READWRITE(hashPrev);
         READWRITE(hashMerkleRoot);
         READWRITE(nTime);
+        READWRITE(block_height);
         READWRITE(nBits);
         READWRITE(nNonce);
     }
@@ -414,6 +419,7 @@ class CDiskBlockIndex : public CBlockIndex
         block.hashPrevBlock   = hashPrev;
         block.hashMerkleRoot  = hashMerkleRoot;
         block.nTime           = nTime;
+        block.block_height    = block_height;
         block.nBits           = nBits;
         block.nNonce          = nNonce;
         return block.GetHash();

src/chainparams.cpp

@@ -432,6 +432,10 @@ class CCustomParams : public CRegTestParams {
         // No subsidy for custom chains by default
         consensus.genesis_subsidy = args.GetArg("-con_blocksubsidy", 0);
 
+        // Note: This global is needed to avoid circular dependency
+        // Defaults to true for custom chains.
+        g_con_blockheightinheader = gArgs.GetBoolArg("-con_blockheightinheader", true);
+
         // All non-zero coinbase outputs must go to this scriptPubKey
         std::vector<unsigned char> man_bytes = ParseHex(gArgs.GetArg("-con_mandatorycoinbase", ""));
         consensus.mandatory_coinbase_destination = CScript(man_bytes.begin(), man_bytes.end()); // Blank script allows any coinbase destination

src/chainparamsbase.cpp

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ void SetupChainParamsBaseOptions()
     gArgs.AddArg("-seednode=<ip>", "Use specified node as seed node. This option can be specified multiple times to connect to multiple nodes. (custom only)", true, OptionsCategory::CHAINPARAMS);
     gArgs.AddArg("-con_blocksubsidy", "Defines the amount of block subsidy to start with, at genesis block.", false, OptionsCategory::CHAINPARAMS);
     gArgs.AddArg("-con_connect_coinbase", "Connect outputs in genesis block to utxo database.", false, OptionsCategory::CHAINPARAMS);
+    gArgs.AddArg("-con_blockheightinheader", "Whether the chain includes the block height directly in the header, for easier validation of block height in low-resource environments.", false, OptionsCategory::CHAINPARAMS);
 }
 
 static std::unique_ptr<CBaseChainParams> globalChainBaseParams;

src/consensus/params.h

@@ -78,11 +78,11 @@ struct Params {
     int64_t DifficultyAdjustmentInterval() const { return nPowTargetTimespan / nPowTargetSpacing; }
     uint256 nMinimumChainWork;
     uint256 defaultAssumeValid;
-
     // Elements-specific chainparams
     CScript mandatory_coinbase_destination;
     CAmount genesis_subsidy;
     bool connect_genesis_outputs;
+    // g_con_blockheightinheader global hack instead of proper arg due to circular dep
 };
 } // namespace Consensus
 

src/miner.cpp

@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ std::unique_ptr<CBlockTemplate> BlockAssembler::CreateNewBlock(const CScript& sc
     // Fill in header
     pblock->hashPrevBlock  = pindexPrev->GetBlockHash();
     UpdateTime(pblock, chainparams.GetConsensus(), pindexPrev);
+    if (g_con_blockheightinheader) {
+        pblock->block_height = nHeight;
+    }
     pblock->nBits          = GetNextWorkRequired(pindexPrev, pblock, chainparams.GetConsensus());
     pblock->nNonce         = 0;
     pblocktemplate->vTxSigOpsCost[0] = WITNESS_SCALE_FACTOR * GetLegacySigOpCount(*pblock->vtx[0]);

src/primitives/block.cpp

@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #include <utilstrencodings.h>
 #include <crypto/common.h>
 
+bool g_con_blockheightinheader = false;
+
 uint256 CBlockHeader::GetHash() const
 {
     return SerializeHash(*this);

src/primitives/block.h

@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 #include <serialize.h>
 #include <uint256.h>
 
+extern bool g_con_blockheightinheader;
+
 /** Nodes collect new transactions into a block, hash them into a hash tree,
  * and scan through nonce values to make the block's hash satisfy proof-of-work
  * requirements.  When they solve the proof-of-work, they broadcast the block
@@ -25,6 +27,9 @@ class CBlockHeader
     uint256 hashPrevBlock;
     uint256 hashMerkleRoot;
     uint32_t nTime;
+    // Height in header as well as in coinbase for easier hsm validation
+    // Is set for serialization with `-con_blockheightinheader=1`
+    uint32_t block_height;
     uint32_t nBits;
     uint32_t nNonce;
 
@@ -41,6 +46,9 @@ class CBlockHeader
         READWRITE(hashPrevBlock);
         READWRITE(hashMerkleRoot);
         READWRITE(nTime);
+        if (g_con_blockheightinheader) {
+            READWRITE(block_height);
+        }
         READWRITE(nBits);
         READWRITE(nNonce);
     }
@@ -51,6 +59,7 @@ class CBlockHeader
         hashPrevBlock.SetNull();
         hashMerkleRoot.SetNull();
         nTime = 0;
+        block_height = 0;
         nBits = 0;
         nNonce = 0;
     }
@@ -111,6 +120,7 @@ class CBlock : public CBlockHeader
         block.hashPrevBlock  = hashPrevBlock;
         block.hashMerkleRoot = hashMerkleRoot;
         block.nTime          = nTime;
+        block.block_height   = block_height;
         block.nBits          = nBits;
         block.nNonce         = nNonce;
         return block;

src/txdb.cpp

@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ bool CBlockTreeDB::LoadBlockIndexGuts(const Consensus::Params& consensusParams,
                 CBlockIndex* pindexNew = insertBlockIndex(diskindex.GetBlockHash());
                 pindexNew->pprev          = insertBlockIndex(diskindex.hashPrev);
                 pindexNew->nHeight        = diskindex.nHeight;
+                pindexNew->block_height   = diskindex.block_height;
                 pindexNew->nFile          = diskindex.nFile;
                 pindexNew->nDataPos       = diskindex.nDataPos;
                 pindexNew->nUndoPos       = diskindex.nUndoPos;

src/validation.cpp

@@ -3271,6 +3271,11 @@ static bool ContextualCheckBlockHeader(const CBlockHeader& block, CValidationSta
     if (block.GetBlockTime() <= pindexPrev->GetMedianTimePast())
         return state.Invalid(false, REJECT_INVALID, "time-too-old", "block's timestamp is too early");
 
+    // Check height in header against prev
+    if (g_con_blockheightinheader && (uint32_t)nHeight != block.block_height)
+        return state.Invalid(error("%s: block height in header is incorrect", __func__),
+                             REJECT_INVALID, "bad-header-height");
+
     // Check timestamp
     if (block.GetBlockTime() > nAdjustedTime + MAX_FUTURE_BLOCK_TIME)
         return state.Invalid(false, REJECT_INVALID, "time-too-new", "block timestamp too far in the future");

test/bitcoin_functional/functional/test_framework/util.py

@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ def initialize_datadir(dirname, n, chain):
         f.write("printtoconsole=0\n")
         f.write("con_blocksubsidy=5000000000\n")
         f.write("con_connect_coinbase=0\n")
+        f.write("con_blockheightinheader=0\n")
         os.makedirs(os.path.join(datadir, 'stderr'), exist_ok=True)
         os.makedirs(os.path.join(datadir, 'stdout'), exist_ok=True)
     return datadir