According to WuShuo, Bitcoin developers recently disclosed a serious software vulnerability CVE-2024-35202, which affects nodes running versions prior to Bitcoin Core 25.0. About 13.7% of nodes worldwide are vulnerable to attacks.

The vulnerability allows attackers to cause node crashes by manipulating block transaction messages. The vulnerability stems from Core's compact block protocol. Although it has no economic benefits for ordinary attackers, developers strongly recommend that node operators update to the latest version.

Niklas Gögge discovered and fixed the vulnerability, which is now available in Bitcoin Core 25.0.