From 4a1f17e75f20931cbb6f974813f46e3a41ae30f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Zubin Jain <zubin.jain@expedera.sg>
Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 22:58:16 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] Fix force of unpacked arrays (#7579) (#7580)

Fixes #7579.
---
 docs/CONTRIBUTORS                      |  1 +
 src/V3Force.cpp                        |  7 ++++++-
 test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.py | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.v  | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100755 test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.py
 create mode 100644 test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.v

diff --git a/docs/CONTRIBUTORS b/docs/CONTRIBUTORS
index 003c09f13..649e68340 100644
--- a/docs/CONTRIBUTORS
+++ b/docs/CONTRIBUTORS
@@ -318,3 +318,4 @@ emmettifelts
 Ícaro Lima
 Yogish Sekhar
 24bit-xjkp
+Zubin Jain
diff --git a/src/V3Force.cpp b/src/V3Force.cpp
index 7764cffcd..5731f53d4 100644
--- a/src/V3Force.cpp
+++ b/src/V3Force.cpp
@@ -1123,7 +1123,12 @@ class ForceReplaceVisitor final : public VNVisitor {
             return;
         }
 
-        AstVarRef* const baseRefp = m_state.getOneVarRef(nodep);
+        AstNode* const basep = AstArraySel::baseFromp(nodep, true);
+        AstVarRef* const baseRefp = VN_CAST(basep, VarRef);
+        if (!baseRefp) {
+            iterateChildren(nodep);
+            return;
+        }
         AstVar* const varp = baseRefp->varp();
         const ForceState::VarForceInfo* const varInfo = m_state.getVarInfo(varp);
         // Skip non-forceable reads, reads we intentionally protected earlier, and intermediate
diff --git a/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.py b/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2089dade6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# DESCRIPTION: Verilator: Verilog Test driver/expect definition
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of either the GNU Lesser General Public License Version 3
+# or the Perl Artistic License Version 2.0.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Wilson Snyder
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-only OR Artistic-2.0
+
+import vltest_bootstrap
+
+test.scenarios('simulator')
+
+test.compile(verilator_flags2=["--trace"])
+
+test.execute()
+
+test.passes()
diff --git a/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.v b/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.v
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3dd1aeb83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_regress/t/t_force_struct_trace.v
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// DESCRIPTION: Verilator: Verilog Test module
+//
+// Minimal reproducer for Verilator 5.048 internal error:
+//   V3Force.cpp:216: `force` assignment has no VarRef on LHS
+//
+//
+// This file ONLY is placed under the Creative Commons Public Domain.
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Zubin Jain
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC0-1.0
+
+module t;
+  logic forced_sig;
+  typedef struct {
+    logic [1:0] d[0:1];
+  } payload_t;
+  payload_t s;
+  initial begin
+    force forced_sig = 1'b1;
+    $finish(0);
+  end
+endmodule