Wallet Extension doesn't support external private key wallets.

[jamescarlyle]

I'd appreciate help. I'm using ethers.js, creating a signer using a specified private key (which belongs to an account used to deploy an ERC20 contract), registering that address with the Wallet Extension, and then sending a transfer() transaction via the WE. I'm expecting the transfer() to succeed, since the ERC20 owner has a substantial balance.

Here's a minimal set of code to reproduce the issue:

import ethers from 'ethers';
import fetch from 'node-fetch';

const USER_ADDRESS = '0x70997970C51812dc3A010C7d01b50e0d17dc79C8';
const OBSCURO_HTTP_ENDPOINT = 'http://127.0.0.1:3000';
const PATH_GENERATE_VK = '/generateviewingkey/';
const PATH_SUBMIT_VK = '/submitviewingkey/';
const JSON_HEADERS = { 'Accept': 'application/json', 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };
const ERC20_ADDRESS = '0x9802F661d17c65527D7ABB59DAAD5439cb125a67';
const ERC20_PRIVATE_KEY = '0xac0974bec39a17e36ba4a6b4d238ff944bacb478cbed5efcae784d7bf4f2ff80';
const rpcProvider = new ethers.providers.JsonRpcProvider(OBSCURO_HTTP_ENDPOINT);
const erc20Issuer = new ethers.Wallet(ERC20_PRIVATE_KEY, rpcProvider);
const ERC20_ISSUER_ADDRESS = erc20Issuer.address;
const ERC20_ABI = [
    {
        "inputs": [
            { "internalType": "address", "name": "receiver", "type": "address" },
            { "internalType": "uint256", "name": "numTokens", "type": "uint256" }
        ],
        "name": "transfer",
        "outputs": [
            { "internalType": "bool", "name": "", "type": "bool" }
        ],
        "stateMutability": "nonpayable",
        "type": "function"
    }
];
const erc20 = new ethers.Contract(ERC20_ADDRESS, ERC20_ABI, rpcProvider);

(async () => {
    const generateViewingKeyResp = await fetch(
        OBSCURO_HTTP_ENDPOINT + PATH_GENERATE_VK, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: JSON_HEADERS,
        body: JSON.stringify({ 'address': ERC20_ISSUER_ADDRESS })
    }
    );
    if (!generateViewingKeyResp.ok) {
        alert('Failed to generate viewing key for Issuer.' + generateViewingKeyResp);
        return;
    };
    const viewingKey = await generateViewingKeyResp.text();
    console.log(viewingKey);

    const signature = await erc20Issuer.signMessage(JSON.stringify(['vk' + viewingKey, erc20Issuer.address]));
    const signedViewingKeyJson = { "signature": signature, "address": erc20Issuer.address }
    const submitViewingKeyResp = await fetch(
        OBSCURO_HTTP_ENDPOINT + PATH_SUBMIT_VK, {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: JSON_HEADERS,
        body: JSON.stringify(signedViewingKeyJson)
    }
    );
    if (!submitViewingKeyResp.ok) {
        console.log('Failed to submit viewing key for Issuer.' + submitViewingKeyResp.statusText);
        return;
    };

    const tx = await erc20.populateTransaction.transfer(
        USER_ADDRESS,
        ethers.utils.parseUnits('1.0', 18),
        { gasLimit: 400000 }
    );
    const sentTx = await erc20Issuer.sendTransaction(tx);
    const receipt = await sentTx.wait();
    alert('Request accepted. Your receipt is: ' + JSON.stringify(receipt));


})().catch(err => {
    console.error(err);
});```

[jamescarlyle]

When I execute this with node test.mjs, I get the following output:

02b5df0525d456d82caae5a2988060e7069b5a6c328a57090b17a684b93ed0adc3
Error: bad response (status=500, headers={"access-control-allow-origin":"*","content-type":"text/plain; charset=utf-8","x-content-type-options":"nosniff","date":"Fri, 26 Aug 2022 19:01:26 GMT","content-length":"148","connection":"close"}, body="rpc request failed: failed to decrypt response for eth_sendRawTransaction call - failed to decrypt result with viewing key - ecies: invalid message\n", requestBody="{\"method\":\"eth_sendRawTransaction\",\"params\":[\"0x02f8b2820309068459682f008459682f0083061a80949802f661d17c65527d7abb59daad5439cb125a6780b844a9059cbb00000000000000000000000070997970c51812dc3a010c7d01b50e0d17dc79c80000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000c001a0be4e669fe019db4e7f483b6caa7b38d75b619ae3084f3cd5cd0971649193cb75a032b235dd575067cfab230dd863f597cc290bdf5bed7b04a5038ae7de2b35ee0a\"],\"id\":51,\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\"}", requestMethod="POST", url="http://127.0.0.1:3000", code=SERVER_ERROR, version=web/5.7.0)
    at Logger.makeError (/home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/lib/index.js:238:21)
    at Logger.throwError (/home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/logger/lib/index.js:247:20)
    at /home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/web/lib/index.js:270:36
    at step (/home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/web/lib/index.js:33:23)
    at Object.next (/home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/web/lib/index.js:14:53)
    at fulfilled (/home/jwgcarlyle/js/ethers-different-signer/node_modules/@ethersproject/web/lib/index.js:5:58)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5) {
  reason: 'bad response',
  code: 'SERVER_ERROR',
  status: 500,
  headers: {
    'access-control-allow-origin': '*',
    'content-type': 'text/plain; charset=utf-8',
    'x-content-type-options': 'nosniff',
    date: 'Fri, 26 Aug 2022 19:01:26 GMT',
    'content-length': '148',
    connection: 'close'
  },
  body: 'rpc request failed: failed to decrypt response for eth_sendRawTransaction call - failed to decrypt result with viewing key - ecies: invalid message\n',
  requestBody: '{"method":"eth_sendRawTransaction","params":["0x02f8b2820309068459682f008459682f0083061a80949802f661d17c65527d7abb59daad5439cb125a6780b844a9059cbb00000000000000000000000070997970c51812dc3a010c7d01b50e0d17dc79c80000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000c001a0be4e669fe019db4e7f483b6caa7b38d75b619ae3084f3cd5cd0971649193cb75a032b235dd575067cfab230dd863f597cc290bdf5bed7b04a5038ae7de2b35ee0a"],"id":51,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}',
  requestMethod: 'POST',
  url: 'http://127.0.0.1:3000',
  transaction: {
    type: 2,
    chainId: 777,
    nonce: 6,
    maxPriorityFeePerGas: BigNumber { _hex: '0x59682f00', _isBigNumber: true },
    maxFeePerGas: BigNumber { _hex: '0x59682f00', _isBigNumber: true },
    gasPrice: null,
    gasLimit: BigNumber { _hex: '0x061a80', _isBigNumber: true },
    to: '0x9802F661d17c65527D7ABB59DAAD5439cb125a67',
    value: BigNumber { _hex: '0x00', _isBigNumber: true },
    data: '0xa9059cbb00000000000000000000000070997970c51812dc3a010c7d01b50e0d17dc79c80000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000',
    accessList: [],
    hash: '0x99964081430bdb4fa1b7806e50ead7a3069f00b4fb86554abb1f654549a2128c',
    v: 1,
    r: '0xbe4e669fe019db4e7f483b6caa7b38d75b619ae3084f3cd5cd0971649193cb75',
    s: '0x32b235dd575067cfab230dd863f597cc290bdf5bed7b04a5038ae7de2b35ee0a',
    from: '0xf39Fd6e51aad88F6F4ce6aB8827279cffFb92266',
    confirmations: 0
  },
  transactionHash: '0x99964081430bdb4fa1b7806e50ead7a3069f00b4fb86554abb1f654549a2128c'
}```

[jamescarlyle]

This is run from a directory with npm init, npm install ethers and npm install node-fetch, then node test.mjs