CVE-2024-52922
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in Bitcoin Core allows an attacker to delay block propagation by stalling peer-to-peer protocol compliance, potentially causing nodes to miss the latest blocks for minutes. It affects Bitcoin Core nodes running versions before 25.1, particularly those participating in the peer-to-peer network.
💻 Affected Systems
- Bitcoin Core
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Network partitioning where nodes fail to receive critical blocks, potentially leading to temporary consensus issues or enabling double-spend attacks if combined with other vulnerabilities.
Likely Case
Temporary disruption of block propagation causing nodes to lag behind the network, reducing synchronization efficiency and potentially affecting transaction validation.
If Mitigated
Minor performance degradation with minimal impact on consensus due to Bitcoin's redundant peer network design.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires network access to target node and understanding of Bitcoin's peer-to-peer protocol.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 25.1
Vendor Advisory: https://bitcoincore.org/en/2024/11/05/cb-stall-hindering-propagation/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download Bitcoin Core 25.1 or later from bitcoincore.org
2. Stop the Bitcoin Core service
3. Install the new version
4. Restart the service
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Increase peer connections
allIncrease maximum connections to reduce impact from individual malicious peers
bitcoind -maxconnections=125
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Monitor network connectivity and block propagation times
- Implement network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted peers
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Bitcoin Core version with 'bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo' and verify version is below 25.1Check Version:
bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo | grep versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 25.1 or higher using 'bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo'📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual block propagation delays
- Peer connection timeouts
- Stalled block announcements
Network Indicators:
- Abnormal peer disconnections
- Irregular block announcement patterns
SIEM Query:
source="bitcoin.log" AND ("stall" OR "delay" OR "propagation")