CVE-2012-2459

bitcoind & Bitcoin-Qt <0.4.6, <0.5.5, <0.6.0.7, <0.6.2 - DoS

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2012-2459. PoCs published by systemslibrarian.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This repository provides a detailed technical implementation and explanation of Merkle proofs, including consistency proofs and inclusion proofs, with a focus on the CVE-2012-2459 vulnerability in Bitcoin's handling of odd nodes. It demonstrates the vulnerability through code and explanations but does not contain a direct exploit.

Description

Unspecified vulnerability in bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.4.6, 0.5.x before 0.5.5, 0.6.0.x before 0.6.0.7, and 0.6.x before 0.6.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (block-processing outage and incorrect block count) via unknown behavior on a Bitcoin network.

Exploits (1)

nomisec WRITEUP
by systemslibrarian · poc
https://github.com/systemslibrarian/crypto-lab-merkle-proofs

This repository provides a detailed technical implementation and explanation of Merkle proofs, including consistency proofs and inclusion proofs, with a focus on the CVE-2012-2459 vulnerability in Bitcoin's handling of odd nodes. It demonstrates the vulnerability through code and explanations but does not contain a direct exploit.

Classification
Writeup 95%
Attack Type
Other
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Theoretical
Target: Bitcoin (CVE-2012-2459)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: understanding of Merkle trees and cryptographic proofs
mistral-large-3 · analyzed Jun 29, 2026 Full analysis →

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Issue Tracking x_refsource_confirm
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=415973
Various Sources x_refsource_confirm
https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=81749
Vendor Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/CVEs

Scores

EPSS 0.0306
EPSS Percentile 86.0%

Details

Status published
Products (11)
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.4
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.5
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.8
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.10
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.11
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.3.12
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.4.0
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.4.1 (2 CPE variants)
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.4.4 (2 CPE variants)
bitcoin/bitcoin_core 0.5.0 rc
... and 1 more
Published Aug 06, 2012
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026