[Bug]: Bug: acme_account_orders_index.nvalue set to NULL when order reaches ready state, breaking ACME operations(unable to fetch order list, or creating a new order)

[UsmanHaider546]

Steps to Reproduce

Bug: step-ca corrupts acme_account_orders_index nvalue to NULL when order reaches ready state

Description

When I create an order in step-ca ACME, it gives an order number and challenge links with codes to pass the challenge. When I pass the challenges, the order becomes valid. After the order reaches the ready state (but not finalized at this time), step-ca corrupts the order table by setting nvalue to null. Once the value becomes null, I cannot create new orders or get details about existing orders.

The corrupted database table is: acme_account_orders_index

Environment

• step-ca version: 0.28.4 (also tested Docker latest)
• Tested on:
  • Docker with default Badger DB
  • Docker with MySQL container
  • Windows with default Badger DB
  • Windows with MySQL

All configurations show the same issue.

Problem

The acme_account_orders_index table's nvalue column is corrupted to NULL when the order transitions to ready state. After it converts to null, I cannot retrieve any order details or create new orders.

Error Log

time="2025-10-11T01:26:02+05:00" level=error duration=1.9211747s duration-ns=1921174700 
error="error creating order: error loading orderIDs for account PoeTs5uSGvJmyHp9rcjLMb8jmWdmqu9m: failed to get acme_account_orders_index/PoeTs5uSGvJmyHp9rcjLMb8jmWdmqu9m: sql: Scan error on column index 0, name \"nvalue\": converting NULL to string is unsupported" 
fields.time="2025-10-11T01:26:00+05:00" 
method=POST 
name=ca 
nonce=WHdvNGptWUI2Y2JuYll0dWx1WjIzM0V1dXozdU5QTmY 
path=/acme/acme/new-order 
protocol=HTTP/1.1 
referer= 
remote-address="::1" 
request-id=9eb9be38-b236-425b-8776-d4eec2edb17e 
response="{\"type\":\"urn:ietf:params:acme:error:serverInternal\",\"detail\":\"The server experienced an internal error\"}" 
size=105 
status=500 
user-agent=node-fetch 
user-id=

Request

Please help find a solution to this issue. If a solution is not available, please acknowledge this bug and provide guidance or a fix in an upcoming release.

Thank you!

Your Environment

• OS -
• step-ca Version -

Expected Behavior

i want to fetch all orders when i make acme post request on /accountnumber/orders even if orders are ready and valid state. and i can make a new orders. at this time. when one order become in ready state, it converts nvalue to null and i cannot make new orders

Actual Behavior

mentioned about

Additional Context

mentioned

Contributing

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[UsmanHaider546]

I believe the /accountNumber/orders and /orders endpoints are not functioning correctly when attempting to retrieve the list of all orders. When an order transitions to the "ready" state, the /orders endpoint no longer returns that order number. If the total number of orders drops to one and that order is removed, the acme_account_orders_index.nvalue becomes NULL, which prevents me from creating any new orders.

This issue occurs consistently across all environments I’ve tested—including Docker containers, Windows binaries, and database backends such as BadgerDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. None of them work correctly; they all exhibit the same problem.

[tashian]

Hello, thanks for reporting this.
Could you please provide instructions for reproducing this error?

[UsmanHaider546]

1. Create an ACME account.
2. Send a request to accountURL/orders.(The first request returns an empty response.)
3. Create a new order. (This returns an order URL along with authentication challenge URLs.)
4. Send another request to accountURL/orders.(This time, the newly created order URL appears in the list.)
5. Pass any ACME challenge and send the response to the corresponding challenge URL.(The server responds that the challenge is valid.)
6. Send a request again to accountURL/orders.

•   This triggers the bug:
  

•   The response now shows an empty order list.(but you may see the error on logs)
  

•   In the database, the acme_account_orders_index.nvalue field is set to NULL.
  

7. Attempting to create a new order fails once acme_account_orders_index.nvalue is set to NULL

I’ve resolved the issue by using either MySQL or PostgreSQL as the backend database. I manually configured the acme_account_orders_index.nvalue field so that it’s not always set to NULL.

Initially, step-ca attempts to set this value to NULL, which triggers error logs if the field isn’t already null. However, after creating a new order, step-ca correctly assigns an order number, and everything works as expected.

Even though the workflow now completes successfully, I’d like the order list to remain visible—even after an order reaches the ready or complete state. Currently, once an order transitions to these states, it disappears from the /accountURL/orders response, which breaks visibility and tracking.