CVE-2018-17144 in Bitcoin Core
Summary
by MITRE
Bitcoin Core 0.14.x before 0.14.3, 0.15.x before 0.15.2, and 0.16.x before 0.16.3 and Bitcoin Knots 0.14.x through 0.16.x before 0.16.3 allow a remote denial of service (application crash) exploitable by miners via duplicate input. An attacker can make bitcoind or Bitcoin-Qt crash.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/25/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-17144 represents a critical denial of service weakness affecting multiple versions of the Bitcoin Core software ecosystem. This flaw specifically impacts Bitcoin Core versions 0.14.x prior to 0.14.3, 0.15.x prior to 0.15.2, and 0.16.x prior to 0.16.3, along with Bitcoin Knots versions through 0.16.x before 0.16.3. The vulnerability manifests when malicious actors exploit duplicate input transactions within the blockchain processing mechanism, creating a condition that causes the affected software implementations to crash entirely.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the improper handling of duplicate transaction inputs during the validation process within Bitcoin Core's transaction processing pipeline. When a miner or node receives a transaction containing duplicate inputs, the software fails to properly validate or reject such malformed transactions, leading to a critical state where the application becomes unresponsive and ultimately crashes. This behavior creates a scenario where any participant in the Bitcoin network can potentially disrupt the operation of other nodes by submitting specifically crafted transactions designed to trigger this crash condition.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to the stability and reliability of the Bitcoin network. Since the attack can be executed by any miner with access to the network, it creates a potential vector for coordinated denial of service attacks that could fragment the network or cause individual nodes to become unavailable. The impact extends beyond simple application crashes as it can lead to network partitioning, where affected nodes become isolated from the broader Bitcoin network, potentially disrupting transaction propagation and consensus mechanisms. The vulnerability specifically affects both bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt implementations, meaning that desktop wallet users and server nodes are equally at risk, creating widespread potential for network disruption.
The security implications of CVE-2018-17144 align with CWE-472 Unprotected Primary Resource and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 Network Denial of Service within the context of cryptocurrency networks. This vulnerability demonstrates how improper input validation can create critical system instability in distributed ledger technologies, where the integrity of transaction processing is paramount. The attack vector specifically targets the transaction validation subsystem, which is fundamental to maintaining the security and consistency of the blockchain. Organizations and individuals using affected Bitcoin Core versions should immediately implement patch management procedures to upgrade to versions 0.14.3, 0.15.2, or 0.16.3 respectively, as these releases contain the necessary fixes to prevent exploitation. Additionally, network administrators should consider implementing transaction filtering mechanisms and monitoring for suspicious transaction patterns that may indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability, particularly in environments where node availability is critical to network operations.