nil Pointer Dereference in GetBinary Method Causes Panic

[sina-haseli]

I encountered a runtime panic caused by a nil pointer dereference in the GetBinary method of the DataBytesOrJSON struct. The issue occurs when calling the GetTransaction() method on a TransactionWithMeta instance.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use TransactionWithMeta.GetTransaction() in a context where the underlying asDecodedBinary field in DataBytesOrJSON is nil.
2. The GetBinary() method attempts to access asDecodedBinary.Content without checking if asDecodedBinary is nil.
3. This leads to a runtime panic:

Relevant Code

The panic occurs in this part of the GetBinary method:

func (dt *DataBytesOrJSON) GetBinary() []byte {
 return dt.asDecodedBinary.Content
}

Add a nil check for asDecodedBinary in the GetBinary method to handle uninitialized or invalid states gracefully:

func (dt *DataBytesOrJSON) GetBinary() []byte {
    if dt == nil {
        return nil // or log an error to indicate invalid state
    }
    return dt.asDecodedBinary.Content
}

Environment

solana-go version: v1.12.0
Go version: (go1.21)
Operating system: (Ubuntu 20.04)

Additional Context

Here’s an example of how this issue surfaces in code using solana-go:

func processBalanceChanges(
    tx rpc.TransactionWithMeta,
    uniqueAddresses map[string]struct{},
) {
    transaction, err := tx.GetTransaction()
    if err != nil {
        log.Error("Error getting transaction: ", "err", err)
        return
    }

    // Panic occurs if tx.Transaction.GetBinary() dereferences a nil pointer
}