Blog

2024

Disclosure of hindered block propagation due to stalling peers

A peer could hinder block propagation by announcing blocks first and then simply withholding the block.

Bitcoin Core 27.2 released

Bitcoin Core 27.2 is now available.

Disclosure of CVE-2024-35202

An attacker could remotely crash a Bitcoin Core node by triggering an assertion in the blocktxn message handling logic.

Disclosure of DoS due to inv-to-send sets growing too large

The inv-to-send sets could grow too large to a point where the time spent sorting the sets would affect the node’s ability to communicate with its peers.

Disclosure of hindered block propagation due to mutated blocks

A peer could hinder block propagation by sending mutated blocks.

Bitcoin Core 28.0 released

Bitcoin Core 28.0 is now available.

Disclosure of memory DoS due to headers spam

An attacker could spam a Bitcoin Core node with low-difficulty headers chains, which could be used to remotely crash it.

Disclosure of remote crash due to addr message spam

Nodes could be spammed with addr messsages, which could be used to crash them. A fix was released on September 14th, 2021 in Bitcoin Core v22.0.

Disclosure of the impact of an infinite loop bug in the miniupnp dependency

Nodes could be crashed by a malicious UPnP device on the local network. A fix was released on September 14th, 2021 in Bitcoin Core v22.0.

Bitcoin Core 26.2 released

Bitcoin Core 26.2 is now available.

Disclosure of crash using malicious BIP72 URI

The BIP70 implementation in Bitcoin-Qt could silently crash when opening a BIP72 URI. A fix was released on June 3rd, 2020 in Bitcoin Core 0.20.0.

Disclosure of DoS using huge GETDATA messages

A malformed GETDATA message could trigger 100% CPU usage on the receiving node. A fix was released on June 3rd, 2020 in Bitcoin Core 0.20.0.

Disclosure of memory DoS using low-difficulty headers

Nodes could be spammed with low-difficulty headers, which could be used to crash it. A fix was released on September 14th, 2017 in Bitcoin Core 0.15.0.

Disclosure of memory DoS using huge INV messages

Nodes would allocate up to 50 MB of memory per attacker sending a malicious INV message. A fix was released on June 3rd, 2020 in Bitcoin Core 0.20.0.

Disclosure of significant DoS due to orphan handling

A node could be stalled for hours when receiving a specially crafted unconfirmed transaction. A fix was released on May 18th, 2019 in Bitcoin Core 0.18.0.

Disclosure of netsplit due to timestamp adjustment

A node could be split from the network when attacked by its first 200 peers. A fix was released on January 15th, 2021 in Bitcoin Core version 0.21.0.

Disclosure of CVE-2020-14198

Nodes could be subject to CPU and memory DoS when attacked by lots of distinct IPs. A fix was released on August 1st, 2020 in Bitcoin Core 0.20.1.

Disclosure of censorship due to transaction re-request handling

Nodes could be prevented from seeing specific unconfirmed transactions by a malicious peer. A fix was released on January 14th, 2021 in Bitcoin Core 0.21.0.

Disclosure of CVE-2015-3641

Attackers sending large incomplete messages would cause high memory usage. A fix was released on April 27th, 2015 in Bitcoin Core 0.10.1.

Disclosure of remote code execution due to bug in miniupnpc

A bug in the miniupnpc library could have led to a remote code execution in Bitcoin Core. A fix was released on October 15th, 2015 in Bitcoin Core 0.11.1.

Bitcoin Core 27.1 released

Bitcoin Core 27.1 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 27.0 released

Bitcoin Core 27.0 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 25.2 released

Bitcoin Core 25.2 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 26.1 released

Bitcoin Core 26.1 is now available.

2023

Bitcoin Core 26.0 released

Bitcoin Core 26.0 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 24.2 released

Bitcoin Core 24.2 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 25.1 released

Bitcoin Core 25.1 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 25.0 released

Bitcoin Core 25.0 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 23.2 released

Bitcoin Core 23.2 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 24.1 released

Bitcoin Core 24.1 is now available.

2022

Bitcoin Core 23.1 released

Bitcoin Core 23.1 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 22.1 released

Bitcoin Core 22.1 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 released

Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 23.0 released

Bitcoin Core 23.0 is now available.

2021

Bitcoin Core 0.20.2 released

Bitcoin Core 0.20.2 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 0.21.2 released

Bitcoin Core 0.21.2 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 22.0 released

Bitcoin Core 22.0 is now available.

Bitcoin Core 0.21.1 Released With Taproot Activation Code

Bitcoin Core 0.21.1 is now available with support for activating and enforcing taproot.

Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.21.0 is now available with multiple improvements.

2020

Bitcoin Core 0.20.1 Released

A new maintenance release of Bitcoin Core is now available for download.

Bitcoin Core 0.20.0 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.20.0 is now available with multiple improvements.

bitcoincore.org hidden service

After frequent requests, this site is now reachable as a Tor hidden service

Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 Released

The Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 maintenance release is now available with bug fixes and minor improvements.

2019

Bitcoin Core 0.19.0 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.19.0 has been released with new features, performance improvements, and several bug fixes.

Disclosure of CVE-2017-18350

Nodes were potentially vulnerable to a buffer overflow by malicious SOCKS servers. A fix was released on November 6th, 2017 in Bitcoin Core version 0.15.1.

Bitcoin Core 0.18.1 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.18.1 is now available with bug fixes and other improvements.

Bitcoin Core 0.18.0 Released

We are pleased to release the next major version of Bitcoin Core, 0.18.0.

2018

Bitcoin Core 0.17.1 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.17.1, a maintenance release bringing bug fixes and minor improvements, is now available.

Bitcoin Core 0.17.0 Released

We’re pleased to announce the release of Bitcoin Core 0.17, a major new version containing many new features as well as bug fixes and other improvements.

Disclosure of CVE-2018-17144

Bitcoin Core was vulnerable to a DoS and inflation attack. A fix was released on September 18th, 2018 in Bitcoin Core versions 0.16.3 and 0.17.0rc4.

Bitcoin Core 0.16.3 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.16.3 is now available with a fix for a denial-of-service vulnerability affecting earlier versions of Bitcoin Core.

Bitcoin Core 0.16.2 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.16.2 is now available with new bug fixes and minor updates.

Bitcoin Core 0.16.1 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.16.1 has been released with the latest bug fixes and minor updates

Bitcoin Core 0.16.0 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.16.0 has been released with default wallet support for segwit.

2017

Bitcoin Core 0.15.1 Released

The latest stable version of Bitcoin Core is now available.

Bitcoin Core 0.15.0.1 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.15.0.1 has been released with a fix for a minor bug causing crashes when upgrading to 0.15.0.

Bitcoin Core 0.15.0 Released

The latest stable version of Bitcoin Core is now available.

Correcting misinformation on Segwit2x and btc1

Bitcoin Core 0.14.2 Released

Bitcoin Core 0.14.2 has been released with a security fix for users who manually enable the UPnP option.

Bitcoin Core 0.14.1 Released

The latest stable version of Bitcoin Core is now available.

Technology roadmap - Prioritized block download with using full block SPV mode

Prioritized block download with using full block SPV mode

Technology roadmap - Schnorr signatures and signature aggregation

Status and explanation of Schnorr signatures and signature aggregation

On-chain scaling - a review of historical performance optimization made to Bitcoin’s reference software. Part 1

Development milestones that helped preserve a reliable experience for users of the Bitcoin software client over the years.

Bitcoin Core 0.14.0 Released with Performance Improvements

Multiple significant performance improvements for miners and new full nodes are available in the latest Bitcoin Core release.

Bitcoin Core 0.13.2 Released

We are pleased to announce the general availability of the Bitcoin Core 0.13.2.

2016

Segregated Witness Costs and Risks

A summary of some of the costs and expected risks of deploying segregated witness.

Bitcoin Core 0.13.1 Released with Segregated Witness

The first release of Bitcoin Core that supports activation of segregated witness is now available.

Segregated Witness Upgrade Guide

Almost two years of iterative design, development, and testing has gone into the version of segwit being released in Bitcoin Core 0.13.1, with much of the ef...

Bitcoin Core 0.13.0 Released!

We’re pleased to announce the official release of Bitcoin Core 0.13.0.

Segregated witness: the next steps

Segregated witness (segwit) is approaching release. This post provides some background information, details about how segwit was tested, information about h...

CSV softfork - Important upgrade instructions for miners

There is an ongoing soft fork of the Bitcoin consensus rules. While everything appears to be proceeding well, this article contains important information and...

Version bits FAQ for miners

The “version bits” BIP9 system is a way to introduce backward compatible rule changes to the Bitcoin consensus rules, known as a soft fork.

Compact Blocks FAQ

Compact block relay, BIP152, is a method of reducing the amount of bandwidth used to propagate new blocks to full nodes.

Bitcoin Core 0.12.1 Released!

We are pleased to announce the release of Bitcoin Core 0.12.1. This maintenance update includes the first soft fork deployment utilising version bits

New Repository Maintainer Appointed

Hereby I’m announcing Marco Falke as the new Testing & QA maintainer for Bitcoin Core.

Keep updated!

In an effort to increase communications, we are now providing opt-in, announcement-only information for users of Bitcoin Core to receive notifications of sec...

The first successful Zero-Knowledge Contingent Payment

Announcement for the first Zero-Knowledge Contingent Payment on the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 Released!

We’re very excited to announce the official release of Bitcoin Core v0.12.0. A lot of hard work has gone into this release and it may just be the biggest one...

Clarifying Communications

Where to find official information about Bitcoin Core and how you can interact with other Bitcoin Core users and developers.

Segregated Witness Benefits

This page summarises some of the benefits of segregated witness.

Launch of Segregated Witness Testnet

We are extremely pleased and excited to announce the release of the Segregated Witness Testnet

Core Development Visualisation for 2015

The following video shows commit activity in the Bitcoin Core repository during 2015.

Statement from Bitcoin Core -- 2016-01-07

Bitcoin is a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that allows online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a finan...