More than 13% of nodes in the bitcoin network were vulnerable to remote connection

Bitcoin blockchain developers have released a statement claiming that more than 13% of the computers that power the network are potentially hackable.

The Bitcoin Core team has reported a bug called CVE-2024−35 202, which allows remote access to the computers that power the network. The bug makes it possible to use assertions in the program code that processes blockchain transaction messages.

The vulnerability affects 13.7% of nodes connected to the bitcoin network that use Bitcoin Core before version 25.0. Despite the fact that the bug was fixed in the spring of 2023, due to the lack of an automatic update function in the blockchain, some nodes are still working with the old version of Bitcoin Core.

The developers recommended installing the latest version of the Bitcoin Core 28.0 software in the near future, as the presence of a significant number of nodes prone to hacking poses risks to the network’s further operation.

Groups of attackers with large resources could potentially cause a large-scale failure. Bitcoin Core 25.0 became available in May 2023. The developers claimed that the update included new features, as well as bug fixes for network systems and performance optimization methods.