[BUG] - ERROR: insert or update on table "UserPreferences" violates foreign key

[davidroler]

I've installed ControlR in my lab few days ago to try it out and eventually replace Remotely.

All tests were working, I was able to:

1. Add user
2. Register devices
3. Remote access

When this morning I noticed that all configuration I've made is gone. I'm still able to login to the portal, but I can't see any customazation we've made, and clients can't connect to anymore.

Checking the DB logs I've found somes errors.

Server Info (if self-hosting)

Server OS:
Language/Locale of Server OS: K8S/Ubuntu 22.04
Docker image tag: 0.19.2.0

Other relevant info:

Logs

[POSTGRES]
│ 2026-02-05 20:18:49.600 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint starting: time │
│ 2026-02-05 20:18:50.181 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint complete: wrote 4 buffers (0.0%), wrote 1 SLRU buffers; 0 WAL file(s) added, 0 removed, 0 recycled; w │
│ 2026-02-05 20:23:49.280 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint starting: time │
│ 2026-02-05 20:23:49.831 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint complete: wrote 5 buffers (0.0%), wrote 1 SLRU buffers; 0 WAL file(s) added, 0 removed, 0 recycled; w │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:21.567 UTC [2650] ERROR: insert or update on table "UserPreferences" violates foreign key constraint "FK_UserPreferences_Tenants_Tena │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:21.567 UTC [2650] DETAIL: Key (TenantId)=(652e1de0-41b1-4d8a-9054-587c2c8cce69) is not present in table "Tenants". │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:21.567 UTC [2650] STATEMENT: INSERT INTO "UserPreferences" ("Name", "TenantId", "UserId", "Value") │
│ VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4) │
│ RETURNING "Id", "CreatedAt" │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:27.315 UTC [2658] ERROR: insert or update on table "UserPreferences" violates foreign key constraint "FK_UserPreferences_Tenants_Tena │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:27.315 UTC [2658] DETAIL: Key (TenantId)=(652e1de0-41b1-4d8a-9054-587c2c8cce69) is not present in table "Tenants". │
│ 2026-02-05 20:26:27.315 UTC [2658] STATEMENT: INSERT INTO "UserPreferences" ("Name", "TenantId", "UserId", "Value") │
│ VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4) │
│ RETURNING "Id", "CreatedAt" │
│ 2026-02-05 20:28:49.932 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint starting: time │
│ 2026-02-05 20:28:51.849 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint complete: wrote 17 buffers (0.1%), wrote 1 SLRU buffers; 0 WAL file(s) added, 0 removed, 0 recycled; │
│ 2026-02-05 20:33:49.952 UTC [33] LOG: checkpoint starting: time

[APP]
An exception occurred in the database while saving changes for context type 'ControlR.Web.Server.Data.AppDb'.
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.DbUpdateException: An error occurred while saving the entity changes. See the inner exception for details.
---> Npgsql.PostgresException (0x80004005): 23503: insert or update on table "UserPreferences" violates foreign key constraint "FK_UserPreferences_Tenants_TenantId"

DETAIL: Detail redacted as it may contain sensitive data. Specify 'Include Error Detail' in the connection string to include this information.
at Npgsql.Internal.NpgsqlConnector.ReadMessageLong(Boolean async, DataRowLoadingMode dataRowLoadingMode, Boolean readingNotifications, Boolean isReadingPrependedMessage)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.PoolingAsyncValueTaskMethodBuilder1.StateMachineBox1.System.Threading.Tasks.Sources.IValueTaskSource.GetResult(Int16 token)
at Npgsql.NpgsqlDataReader.NextResult(Boolean async, Boolean isConsuming, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Npgsql.NpgsqlDataReader.NextResult(Boolean async, Boolean isConsuming, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Npgsql.NpgsqlCommand.ExecuteReader(Boolean async, CommandBehavior behavior, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Npgsql.NpgsqlCommand.ExecuteReader(Boolean async, CommandBehavior behavior, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Npgsql.NpgsqlCommand.ExecuteDbDataReaderAsync(CommandBehavior behavior, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.RelationalCommand.ExecuteReaderAsync(RelationalCommandParameterObject parameterObject, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.RelationalCommand.ExecuteReaderAsync(RelationalCommandParameterObject parameterObject, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Update.ReaderModificationCommandBatch.ExecuteAsync(IRelationalConnection connection, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
Exception data:
Severity: ERROR
SqlState: 23503
MessageText: insert or update on table "UserPreferences" violates foreign key constraint "FK_UserPreferences_Tenants_TenantId"
Detail: Detail redacted as it may contain sensitive data. Specify 'Include Error Detail' in the connection string to include this information.
SchemaName: public
TableName: UserPreferences
ConstraintName: FK_UserPreferences_Tenants_TenantId
File: ri_triggers.c
Line: 2772
Routine: ri_ReportViolation
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Update.ReaderModificationCommandBatch.ExecuteAsync(IRelationalConnection connection, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Update.Internal.BatchExecutor.ExecuteAsync(IEnumerable1 commandBatches, IRelationalConnection connection, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Update.Internal.BatchExecutor.ExecuteAsync(IEnumerable1 commandBatches, IRelationalConnection connection, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Update.Internal.BatchExecutor.ExecuteAsync(IEnumerable1 commandBatches, IRelationalConnection connection, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Storage.RelationalDatabase.SaveChangesAsync(IList1 entries, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.ChangeTracking.Internal.StateManager.SaveChangesAsync(IList1 entriesToSave, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.ChangeTracking.Internal.StateManager.SaveChangesAsync(StateManager stateManager, Boolean acceptAllChangesOnSuccess, CancellationToken cancellationToken) at Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL.Storage.Internal.NpgsqlExecutionStrategy.ExecuteAsync[TState,TResult](TState state, Func4 operation, Func`4 verifySucceeded, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.DbContext.SaveChangesAsync(Boolean acceptAllChangesOnSuccess, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

Log Timestamp(s)

Regards,

[bitbound]

Sorry for the delayed response. I've had my head buried in build environment configuration the last couple days.

Unfortunately, I can't tell what's going on yet based on just these logs. The tenant ID 652e1de0-41b1-4d8a-9054-587c2c8cce69 doesn't exist, but there's provided info doesn't help me piece together the actions that led to this state. And the logs don't show any of ControlR's code in the stack trace.

Are there any repro steps you can provide? If so, can you also provide the full logs for the duration of the repro?

The goal here is to associate actions taken with log entries. If I can replicate it, I can fix it. But I don't have enough info yet.

[bitbound]

I tried to replicate the issue in tests, but wasn't able to. However, I will be removing the relationship between UserPreferences and TenantId, so they'll follow the user when they're invited to and join another tenant. My hunch was that it could be happening here, but I couldn't reproduce it.

If you're still getting this error, though, I'd look in the UserPreferences table for records with the offending TenantId and remove them.