CATASTROPHIC NPE at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.exec.gas.CustomGasCharging.feeForAborted(CustomGasCharging.java:185)

MDLT against v0.77.0-rc.8
BN = v0.40.0-rc1

Log: https://perf.analytics.eng.hashgraph.io/ephemeral/test_runs/_chewie-solo-sdlt-n6__20:19:36:08-22-2026/report/podlog_chewie-solo-sdlt-n6/network-node1_logs/hgcaa.log

2026-08-15 06:03:48.083 ERROR 191  DispatchProcessor - Possibly CATASTROPHIC failure - exception thrown while handling dispatch
java.lang.NullPointerException
	at java.base/java.util.Objects.requireNonNull(Objects.java:220)
	at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.exec.gas.CustomGasCharging.feeForAborted(CustomGasCharging.java:185)
	at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.exec.gas.CustomGasCharging.chargeGasForAbortedTransaction(CustomGasCharging.java:170)
	at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.exec.ContextTransactionProcessor.maybeChargeFeesAndReturnOutcome(ContextTransactionProcessor.java:315)
	at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.exec.ContextTransactionProcessor.call(ContextTransactionProcessor.java:247)
	at com.hedera.node.app.service.contract.impl.handlers.ContractCallHandler.handle(ContractCallHandler.java:60)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.dispatcher.TransactionDispatcher.dispatchHandle(TransactionDispatcher.java:190)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.DispatchProcessor.tryHandle(DispatchProcessor.java:167)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.DispatchProcessor.processDispatch(DispatchProcessor.java:139)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.HandleWorkflow.executeSubmittedParent(HandleWorkflow.java:880)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.HandleWorkflow.handlePlatformTransaction(HandleWorkflow.java:639)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.HandleWorkflow.handleEvents(HandleWorkflow.java:477)
	at com.hedera.node.app.workflows.handle.HandleWorkflow.handleRound(HandleWorkflow.java:395)
	at com.hedera.node.app.Hedera.onHandleConsensusRound(Hedera.java:1129)
	at org.hiero.consensus.transaction.handling.internal.DefaultTransactionHandler.doHandleConsensusRound(DefaultTransactionHandler.java:279)
	at org.hiero.consensus.transaction.handling.internal.DefaultTransactionHandler.handleConsensusRound(DefaultTransactionHandler.java:248)
	at com.swirlds.component.framework.component.ComponentWiring.lambda$getOrBuildInputWire$0(ComponentWiring.java:625)
	at com.swirlds.component.framework.wires.input.BindableInputWire.lambda$bind$0(BindableInputWire.java:96)
	at com.swirlds.component.framework.schedulers.internal.SequentialThreadTask.handle(SequentialThreadTask.java:19)
	at com.swirlds.component.framework.schedulers.internal.SequentialThreadTaskScheduler.run(SequentialThreadTaskScheduler.java:193)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1474)