message/validation: avoid nil SSVMessage panic in Validate defer

[nkryuchkov]

I caught a panic running p2p tests locally

panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x2 addr=0x8 pc=0x1038fbb88]

github.com/ssvlabs/ssv-spec/types.(*SSVMessage).GetID(...)
  .../ssv-spec/types/messages.go:108
github.com/ssvlabs/ssv/message/validation.(*messageValidator).Validate.func1()
  .../message/validation/validation.go:132
github.com/ssvlabs/ssv/message/validation.(*messageValidator).Validate(...)
  .../message/validation/validation.go:138
...
FAIL    github.com/ssvlabs/ssv/network/p2p    6.689s

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

Fixes a nil pointer panic in message validation by extracting role determination logic into a safe helper function.

• Extracted messageRole() helper that checks for both decodedMessage == nil and decodedMessage.SSVMessage == nil before accessing GetID()
• Applied the helper in both the defer block (where the panic occurred) and handleValidationSuccess() for consistency
• Added test coverage for the nil SSVMessage scenario using require.NotPanics()
• Follows existing nil-check pattern used in logger_fields.go

Confidence Score: 5/5

• This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk - it's a straightforward panic fix with proper nil checks and test coverage
• Score reflects a well-implemented bug fix: the solution extracts defensive nil-checking logic into a reusable helper, adds test coverage for the panic scenario, and follows existing patterns in the codebase
• No files require special attention

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
message/validation/validation.go	Extracted role determination into messageRole() helper with proper nil checks to prevent panic in defer block
message/validation/errors.go	Updated to use new messageRole() helper for consistency
message/validation/validation_test.go	Added test coverage for nil SSVMessage scenario to verify the panic fix

_{Last reviewed commit: e7696dc}

[greptile-apps]

_{3 files reviewed, no comments}

_{Edit Code Review Agent Settings | Greptile}

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 50.00000% with 3 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 56.3%. Comparing base (20ffb01) to head (e7696dc).

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
message/validation/validation.go	60.0%	1 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️
message/validation/errors.go	0.0%	1 Missing ⚠️

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[iurii-ssv]

LGTM

[mbonenberger]

We’re seeing this exact panic in production after upgrading operators to v2.4.1.

The stack trace matches the one described here (SSVMessage.GetID() → message validation).

This is currently affecting operators in the Lido SimpleDVT environment, so confirming this fix would be very helpful.