CVE-2010-5138
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedwxBitcoin and bitcoind 0.3.x allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (electricity consumption) via a Bitcoin transaction containing multiple OP_CHECKSIG script opcodes.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceEarly Bitcoin software (wxBitcoin and bitcoind 0.3.x) lacked computational limits on script execution, allowing attackers to craft transactions with excessive OP_CHECKSIG operations. Each OP_CHECKSIG requires expensive elliptic curve signature verification, enabling a single malicious transaction to exhaust a node's CPU resources.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 0.3.4= 0.3.5= 0.3.4= 0.3.5CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Bitcoin software variantRun 'bitcoind --version' or 'bitcoin-cli --version' if using bitcoind. For wxBitcoin, check the application metadata or run 'wxbitcoin --version' if available.Affected if The software is either Bitcoin Core (bitcoind) or Wxbitcoin
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Determine the installed versionExamine the version output from step 1. Look for version numbers in the format 0.3.x.Affected if The version is exactly 0.3.4 or exactly 0.3.5
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Verify version number in binary or packageIf command-line version is unavailable, check the installed binary file version property, or the software package version installed via your system's package manager (dpkg, rpm, etc.).Affected if The installed package version is 0.3.4 or 0.3.5 for Bitcoin Core or Wxbitcoin
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Confirm script operation limits are absentInspect the source code or binary for script execution limits. In these early versions, there is no OP_CHECKSIG limit enforcement in the script validation logic.Affected if The software is version 0.3.4 or 0.3.5 and contains no script operation count limits
You are affected if you are running Bitcoin Core or Wxbitcoin version 0.3.4 or 0.3.5, which lack computational limits on OP_CHECKSIG operations in transaction scripts.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate to a patched version of Bitcoin Core (0.3.11 or later) that implements script operation limits; for legacy systems, add validation bounds to restrict OP_CHECKSIG count per transaction.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5138 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-5138 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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