chore(deps): bump cosmos-sdk to v0.53.8, ship it as an empty v4.4 upgrade (backport #2024)

[RafilxTenfen]

Summary

Backport of #2024 (0de36afa) to release/v4.4.x.

This is the top of a three PR stack and targets #2027's branch, not release/v4.4.x directly. Merge order is #2026, then #2027, then this one. GitHub retargets each PR automatically as the one below it merges.

release/v4.4.x
 └─ #2026  reset release/v4.4.x to release/v4.3.x
     └─ #2027  bump CosmWasm/wasmd v0.60.5 (backport #1965)
         └─ THIS PR  cosmos-sdk v0.53.8 + empty v4.4 upgrade

• Bumps cosmos-sdk v0.53.5 to v0.53.8 and cometbft v0.38.22 to v0.38.23
• Adds the v4.4 upgrade handler, which carries no state migration and exists only to coordinate the binary swap for the v0.53.8 security release
• Registers v4.4 in Upgrades for both mainnet and testnet builds
• Adds TestUpgradeV44, which boots the pre-upgrade image, passes a gov software upgrade proposal, and asserts state survives the swap

Refer to #2024 for the full analysis of why v0.53.8 is state breaking and why no migration is required. That reasoning is unchanged here.

Backport adaptations

1. v4.5 is not included. On main, chore(deps): bump cosmos-sdk to v0.53.8, ship it as an empty v4.4 upgrade #2024 moved the costaking ActiveBaby recalculation out of v4_4 and into a new, deliberately unregistered v4_5. On this branch chore: reset release/v4.4.x to release/v4.3.x #2026 removed that code entirely, so there is nothing to move: v4_4 is authored directly as the empty handler and no v4_5 package is created. This means the costaking recalculation staged on main for v4.5 does not reach this release line. If it is meant to, it needs its own backport.
2. TestUpgradeV44 is adapted to this branch's tmanager, which does not have the helpers the original relies on. Ported verbatim from main: StakingQuery, EpochingQuery, QueryDelegation, QueryCurrentEpoch (node_queries.go), WrappedDelegate (node_txs.go) and WaitForEpochEnd (node.go).
3. createGovPropAndPreUpgradeFunc lives in the test file here. On main it sits in upgrades_v4_5_test.go, which is not backported.
4. Two small API differences on this branch: WalletSender has no Addr() (uses .Address.String()), and UpdateWalletAccSeqNumber is not variadic (the call is split in two).
5. cfg.EpochLength is dropped from the test setup. That field is not wired into genesis on this branch, so setting it is a no-op. The epoching default here is already 10 blocks, so the epoch assertions behave as intended without it.

Why the stack

wasmd v0.55.1, which #2026 restores, does not compile against cosmos-sdk v0.53.5 or later, so #2027 is a hard prerequisite for this PR. See that PR for the detail.

Original PR

#2024

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

The PR upgrades Cosmos SDK to v0.53.8 and CometBFT to v0.38.23, coordinating the state-breaking binary change through an empty v4.4 upgrade.

• Registers the v4.4 handler in mainnet and testnet builds.
• Adds an end-to-end binary-upgrade and state-preservation test plus supporting test-manager helpers.
• Updates dependency checksums and the changelog.
• No SECURITY-GUARDRAILS.md file was present, so no repository-specific security guardrails applied; the reviewed upgrade path uses the standard named upgrade handler and migration mechanism, and no concrete security regression was identified.

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge, with no concrete changed-code defect identified in the upgrade registration, handler, dependency update, or test flow.

The v4.4 plan is registered consistently for both network builds, dispatches through the standard upgrade mechanism, and runs module migrations without unsupported store changes; the accompanying test covers binary replacement and state continuity.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
app/upgrades/v4_4/upgrade.go	Adds the named v4.4 handler using the standard migration path with no store-key changes or custom state mutation.
app/include_upgrade_mainnet.go	Registers the v4.4 upgrade for mainnet builds.
app/include_upgrade_testnet.go	Registers the same v4.4 upgrade for testnet and e2e builds.
go.mod	Upgrades Cosmos SDK, CometBFT, and the resulting Ledger transitive dependency.
test/e2ev2/upgrades_v4_4_test.go	Exercises governance scheduling, binary replacement, continued block production, and pre/post-upgrade state and transaction behavior.
test/e2ev2/tmanager/node.go	Adds an epoch-transition waiting helper used by the upgrade test.
test/e2ev2/tmanager/node_queries.go	Adds staking and epoch query helpers needed to verify delegation state.
test/e2ev2/tmanager/node_txs.go	Adds the wrapped staking delegation transaction helper used in the state-preservation scenario.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant Gov as Governance
    participant Old as Pre-v4.4 validators
    participant UK as Upgrade keeper
    participant New as v4.4 validators
    Gov->>Old: Approve v4.4 software-upgrade plan
    Old->>UK: Reach scheduled upgrade height
    UK-->>Old: Halt for binary replacement
    New->>UK: Restart with v4.4 handler
    UK->>New: RunMigrations with existing version map
    New-->>New: Resume consensus without custom state migration

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Last verified: 2026-08-05 21:31 UTC