Disable the PubSub vote subscription by default

The --rpc-pubsub-enable-vote-subscription flag may be used to enable it.
The current vote subscription is problematic because it emits a
notification for *every* vote, so hundreds a second in a real cluster.
Critically it's also missing information about *who* is voting,
rendering all those notifications practically useless.

Until these two issues can be resolved, the vote subscription is not
much more than a potential DoS vector.

core/src/rpc_pubsub.rs

@@ -1002,11 +1002,12 @@ mod tests {
         // Setup Subscriptions
         let optimistically_confirmed_bank =
             OptimisticallyConfirmedBank::locked_from_bank_forks_root(&bank_forks);
-        let subscriptions = RpcSubscriptions::new(
+        let subscriptions = RpcSubscriptions::new_with_vote_subscription(
             &exit,
             bank_forks,
             block_commitment_cache,
             optimistically_confirmed_bank,
+            true,
         );
         rpc.subscriptions = Arc::new(subscriptions);
         rpc.vote_subscribe(session, subscriber);

core/src/rpc_pubsub_service.rs

@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ use std::{
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct PubSubConfig {
+    pub enable_vote_subscription: bool,
+
     // See the corresponding fields in
     // https://github.com/paritytech/ws-rs/blob/be4d47575bae55c60d9f51b47480d355492a94fc/src/lib.rs#L131
     // for a complete description of each field in this struct
@@ -30,8 +32,9 @@ pub struct PubSubConfig {
 impl Default for PubSubConfig {
     fn default() -> Self {
         Self {
-            max_connections: 1000,             // Arbitrary, default of 100 is too low
-            max_fragment_size: 50 * 1024,      // 50KB
+            enable_vote_subscription: false,
+            max_connections: 1000, // Arbitrary, default of 100 is too low
+            max_fragment_size: 50 * 1024, // 50KB
             max_in_buffer_capacity: 50 * 1024, // 50KB
             max_out_buffer_capacity: 15 * 1024 * 1024, // max account size (10MB), then 5MB extra for base64 encoding overhead/etc
         }

core/src/rpc_subscriptions.rs

@@ -344,6 +344,7 @@ pub struct RpcSubscriptions {
     block_commitment_cache: Arc<RwLock<BlockCommitmentCache>>,
     optimistically_confirmed_bank: Arc<RwLock<OptimisticallyConfirmedBank>>,
     exit: Arc<AtomicBool>,
+    enable_vote_subscription: bool,
 }
 
 impl Drop for RpcSubscriptions {
@@ -360,6 +361,22 @@ impl RpcSubscriptions {
         bank_forks: Arc<RwLock<BankForks>>,
         block_commitment_cache: Arc<RwLock<BlockCommitmentCache>>,
         optimistically_confirmed_bank: Arc<RwLock<OptimisticallyConfirmedBank>>,
+    ) -> Self {
+        Self::new_with_vote_subscription(
+            exit,
+            bank_forks,
+            block_commitment_cache,
+            optimistically_confirmed_bank,
+            false,
+        )
+    }
+
+    pub fn new_with_vote_subscription(
+        exit: &Arc<AtomicBool>,
+        bank_forks: Arc<RwLock<BankForks>>,
+        block_commitment_cache: Arc<RwLock<BlockCommitmentCache>>,
+        optimistically_confirmed_bank: Arc<RwLock<OptimisticallyConfirmedBank>>,
+        enable_vote_subscription: bool,
     ) -> Self {
         let (notification_sender, notification_receiver): (
             Sender<NotificationEntry>,
@@ -422,17 +439,20 @@ impl RpcSubscriptions {
             block_commitment_cache,
             optimistically_confirmed_bank,
             exit: exit.clone(),
+            enable_vote_subscription,
         }
     }
 
+    // For tests only...
     pub fn default_with_bank_forks(bank_forks: Arc<RwLock<BankForks>>) -> Self {
         let optimistically_confirmed_bank =
             OptimisticallyConfirmedBank::locked_from_bank_forks_root(&bank_forks);
-        Self::new(
+        Self::new_with_vote_subscription(
             &Arc::new(AtomicBool::new(false)),
             bank_forks,
             Arc::new(RwLock::new(BlockCommitmentCache::default())),
             optimistically_confirmed_bank,
+            true,
         )
     }
 
@@ -706,9 +726,15 @@ impl RpcSubscriptions {
     }
 
     pub fn add_vote_subscription(&self, sub_id: SubscriptionId, subscriber: Subscriber<RpcVote>) {
-        let sink = subscriber.assign_id(sub_id.clone()).unwrap();
-        let mut subscriptions = self.subscriptions.vote_subscriptions.write().unwrap();
-        subscriptions.insert(sub_id, sink);
+        if self.enable_vote_subscription {
+            let sink = subscriber.assign_id(sub_id.clone()).unwrap();
+            let mut subscriptions = self.subscriptions.vote_subscriptions.write().unwrap();
+            subscriptions.insert(sub_id, sink);
+        } else {
+            let _ = subscriber.reject(jsonrpc_core::Error::new(
+                jsonrpc_core::ErrorCode::MethodNotFound,
+            ));
+        }
     }
 
     pub fn remove_vote_subscription(&self, id: &SubscriptionId) -> bool {

core/src/validator.rs

@@ -344,11 +344,12 @@ impl Validator {
         let optimistically_confirmed_bank =
             OptimisticallyConfirmedBank::locked_from_bank_forks_root(&bank_forks);
 
-        let subscriptions = Arc::new(RpcSubscriptions::new(
+        let subscriptions = Arc::new(RpcSubscriptions::new_with_vote_subscription(
             &exit,
             bank_forks.clone(),
             block_commitment_cache.clone(),
             optimistically_confirmed_bank.clone(),
+            config.pubsub_config.enable_vote_subscription,
         ));
 
         let (completed_data_sets_sender, completed_data_sets_receiver) =

docs/src/developing/clients/jsonrpc-api.md

@@ -2834,7 +2834,7 @@ Result:
 {"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":true,"id":1}
 ```
 
-### Subscription Websocket
+## Subscription Websocket
 
 After connecting to the RPC PubSub websocket at `ws://<ADDRESS>/`:
 
@@ -3355,7 +3355,11 @@ Result:
 {"jsonrpc": "2.0","result": true,"id": 1}
 ```
 
-### voteSubscribe
+### voteSubscribe - Unstable, disabled by default
+
+**This subscription is unstable and only available if the validator was started
+with the `--rpc-pubsub-enable-vote-subscription` flag.  The format of this
+subscription may change in the future**
 
 Subscribe to receive notification anytime a new vote is observed in gossip.
 These votes are pre-consensus therefore there is no guarantee these votes will

validator/src/main.rs

@@ -1264,6 +1264,12 @@ pub fn main() {
                 .validator(solana_net_utils::is_host)
                 .help("IP address to bind the RPC port [default: use --bind-address]"),
         )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::with_name("rpc_pubsub_enable_vote_subscription")
+                .long("rpc-pubsub-enable-vote-subscription")
+                .takes_value(false)
+                .help("Enable the unstable RPC PubSub `voteSubscribe` subscription"),
+        )
         .arg(
             Arg::with_name("rpc_pubsub_max_connections")
                 .long("rpc-pubsub-max-connections")
@@ -1469,6 +1475,7 @@ pub fn main() {
             )
         }),
         pubsub_config: PubSubConfig {
+            enable_vote_subscription: matches.is_present("rpc_pubsub_enable_vote_subscription"),
             max_connections: value_t_or_exit!(matches, "rpc_pubsub_max_connections", usize),
             max_fragment_size: value_t_or_exit!(matches, "rpc_pubsub_max_fragment_size", usize),
             max_in_buffer_capacity: value_t_or_exit!(