From 5c3e45cd6b00f42e456a41909ced81717b12b589 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Matthias Seitz <matthias.seitz@outlook.de>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:52:56 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: handle incomplete receipts gracefully in receipt root
 task (#21285)

---
 .../payload_processor/receipt_root_task.rs    | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
 .../engine/tree/src/tree/payload_validator.rs | 14 +++++++++-----
 2 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_processor/receipt_root_task.rs b/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_processor/receipt_root_task.rs
index c9e53a11b0..993a57326d 100644
--- a/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_processor/receipt_root_task.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_processor/receipt_root_task.rs
@@ -64,14 +64,11 @@ impl<R: Receipt> ReceiptRootTaskHandle<R> {
     ///
     /// * `receipts_len` - The total number of receipts expected. This is needed to correctly order
     ///   the trie keys according to RLP encoding rules.
-    ///
-    /// # Panics
-    ///
-    /// Panics if the number of receipts received doesn't match `receipts_len`.
     pub fn run(self, receipts_len: usize) {
         let mut builder = OrderedTrieRootEncodedBuilder::new(receipts_len);
         let mut aggregated_bloom = Bloom::ZERO;
         let mut encode_buf = Vec::new();
+        let mut received_count = 0usize;
 
         for indexed_receipt in self.receipt_rx {
             let receipt_with_bloom = indexed_receipt.receipt.with_bloom_ref();
@@ -81,9 +78,21 @@ impl<R: Receipt> ReceiptRootTaskHandle<R> {
 
             aggregated_bloom |= *receipt_with_bloom.bloom_ref();
             builder.push_unchecked(indexed_receipt.index, &encode_buf);
+            received_count += 1;
         }
 
-        let root = builder.finalize().expect("receipt root builder incomplete");
+        let Ok(root) = builder.finalize() else {
+            // Finalize fails if we didn't receive exactly `receipts_len` receipts. This can
+            // happen if execution was aborted early (e.g., invalid transaction encountered).
+            // We return without sending a result, allowing the caller to handle the abort.
+            tracing::error!(
+                target: "engine::tree::payload_processor",
+                expected = receipts_len,
+                received = received_count,
+                "Receipt root task received incomplete receipts, execution likely aborted"
+            );
+            return;
+        };
         let _ = self.result_tx.send((root, aggregated_bloom));
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_validator.rs b/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_validator.rs
index e02fb2f9e4..138fad5b16 100644
--- a/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_validator.rs
+++ b/crates/engine/tree/src/tree/payload_validator.rs
@@ -479,11 +479,15 @@ where
         let block = self.convert_to_block(input)?.with_senders(senders);
 
         // Wait for the receipt root computation to complete.
-        let receipt_root_bloom = Some(
-            receipt_root_rx
-                .blocking_recv()
-                .expect("receipt root task dropped sender without result"),
-        );
+        let receipt_root_bloom = receipt_root_rx
+            .blocking_recv()
+            .inspect_err(|_| {
+                tracing::error!(
+                    target: "engine::tree::payload_validator",
+                    "Receipt root task dropped sender without result, receipt root calculation likely aborted"
+                );
+            })
+            .ok();
 
         let hashed_state = ensure_ok_post_block!(
             self.validate_post_execution(