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Incorrect Authorization

CVE-2021-31876

Medium
6.5/10

Summary

Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 through 0.21.1 does not properly implement the replacement policy specified in BIP125, which makes it easier for attackers to trigger a loss of funds, or a denial of service attack against downstream projects such as Lightning network nodes. An unconfirmed child transaction with nSequence = 0xff_ff_ff_ff, spending an unconfirmed parent with nSequence <= 0xff_ff_ff_fd, should be replaceable because there is inherited signaling by the child transaction. However, the actual PreChecks implementation does not enforce this. Instead, mempool rejects the replacement attempt of the unconfirmed child transaction.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • LOW
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • LOW

CWE-863 - Incorrect Authorization

Authorization is a security mechanism performed by an application to grant or deny access to the requested resources by verifying the privileges of the user. When an application lacks effective authorization mechanisms, it enables unauthorized users to gain unintended privileges and illegitimate access to resources. Such a vulnerability may result in exposure of sensitive information, denial of service, arbitrary code execution, and complete system takeover.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published