CVE-2017-9230

HIGH

Bitcoin - Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator in Proof-of-Work Algorithm

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

The Bitcoin Proof-of-Work algorithm does not consider a certain attack methodology related to 80-byte block headers with a variety of initial 64-byte chunks followed by the same 16-byte chunk, multiple candidate root values ending with the same 4 bytes, and calculations involving sqrt numbers. This violates the security assumptions of (1) the choice of input, outside of the dedicated nonce area, fed into the Proof-of-Work function should not change its difficulty to evaluate and (2) every Proof-of-Work function execution should be independent. NOTE: a number of persons feel that this methodology is a benign mining optimization, not a vulnerability

References (7)

Core 7
Core References
Technical Description x_refsource_misc
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1604/1604.00575.pdf
Mailing List, Technical Description, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-April/013996.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-May/014351.html
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98657
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-May/014352.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-May/014349.html
Technical Description x_refsource_misc
http://www.mit.edu/~jlrubin//public/pdfs/Asicboost.pdf

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.0325
EPSS Percentile 86.7%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable yes
Technical Impact partial

Details

CWE
CWE-338
Status published
Products (1)
bitcoin/bitcoin
Published May 24, 2017
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026