CVE-2010-5139 in bitcoind
Summary
by MITRE
Integer overflow in wxBitcoin and bitcoind before 0.3.11 allows remote attackers to bypass intended economic restrictions and create many bitcoins via a crafted Bitcoin transaction.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/23/2015
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2010-5139 represents a critical integer overflow flaw that affected the early versions of the bitcoin protocol implementation, specifically impacting wxBitcoin and bitcoind software before version 0.3.11. This vulnerability resides in the transaction processing logic where the software failed to properly validate integer values during monetary calculations, creating a scenario where attackers could manipulate the system's monetary constraints through carefully crafted transactions. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and arithmetic overflow handling within the core bitcoin protocol implementation, allowing malicious actors to exploit the system's mathematical limitations to generate an excessive number of bitcoins beyond the intended economic parameters.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs when a remote attacker crafts a specially formatted bitcoin transaction that triggers an integer overflow condition during the calculation of transaction amounts or coin creation processes. This overflow allows the system to incorrectly interpret large monetary values as smaller ones due to the wrapping behavior of integer arithmetic, effectively bypassing the protocol's intended monetary restrictions. The vulnerability operates at the core protocol level where transaction validation should enforce strict monetary limits, but instead permits the creation of transactions that appear valid while actually containing manipulated values that overflow the integer boundaries. This flaw directly violates the fundamental economic principles of the bitcoin system by allowing unauthorized creation of currency beyond the established monetary supply limits.
The operational impact of CVE-2010-5139 extends beyond simple monetary manipulation to threaten the entire integrity and economic stability of the bitcoin network during its early developmental phase. Attackers could potentially flood the network with fraudulent transactions that appear legitimate to the protocol's validation mechanisms while actually creating an unlimited supply of bitcoins, undermining the scarcity principle that forms the foundation of bitcoin's economic model. The vulnerability's remote nature means that any node in the network could be compromised, potentially allowing attackers to create a cascading effect where fraudulent transactions propagate throughout the network, causing widespread disruption to the distributed ledger system. This represents a significant threat to the trust model of bitcoin, as it allows for the systematic undermining of the protocol's economic security mechanisms.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-190, Integer Overflow or Wraparound, which specifically addresses the issue of arithmetic overflow conditions that can lead to unexpected behavior in software systems. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1587.001, "Develop or Acquire Malware", and T1499.004, "Network Denial of Service", as it enables attackers to create malicious transactions that can disrupt network operations and potentially compromise the economic security of the cryptocurrency system. The mitigation strategy involves implementing proper integer overflow detection and handling mechanisms within the transaction processing pipeline, including bounds checking and validation of monetary values before they are processed. Software updates to version 0.3.11 or later are essential to address this vulnerability, as they contain the necessary fixes to properly handle integer arithmetic and prevent the overflow conditions that allowed malicious transactions to bypass economic restrictions. Additionally, network monitoring systems should be implemented to detect anomalous transaction patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts of this vulnerability.