CVE-2016-10724
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 · uneditedBitcoin Core before v0.13.0 allows denial of service (memory exhaustion) triggered by the remote network alert system (deprecated since Q1 2016) if an attacker can sign a message with a certain private key that had been known by unintended actors, because of an infinitely sized map. This affects other uses of the codebase, such as Bitcoin Knots before v0.13.0.knots20160814 and many altcoins.
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 confidenceBitcoin Core before v0.13.0 contains a memory exhaustion denial of service vulnerability in the deprecated remote network alert system. An attacker who possesses a certain private key (which had become known to unintended actors) can sign alert messages that cause an infinitely sized map to grow unbounded, leading to memory exhaustion.
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< 0.13.0< 0.13.0< 0.13.0CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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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Check installed Bitcoin Core versionRun 'bitcoin-cli getinfo' or 'bitcoind --version' to retrieve the version numberAffected if Version is below 0.13.0 (e.g., 0.12.x, 0.11.x, etc.)
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Verify alert system is activeCheck the debug.log for entries containing 'alert' or 'CAlert' during startup and runtime, or query the alert system status via RPC if availableAffected if Alert system is enabled and processing incoming alert messages
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Look for received alert messagesUse 'bitcoin-cli getalerts' or inspect debug.log for recently received signed alert messagesAffected if Any alerts have been received and stored in memory
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Check for unbounded memory growthMonitor process memory usage over time; look for continuously increasing memory consumption that does not stabilizeAffected if Memory usage grows without bound while alert messages are being processed
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Confirm remote alert feature is enabledCheck configuration files or startup parameters for any setting that enables or disables the deprecated alert systemAffected if The alert system remains enabled (default in affected versions)
The environment is affected if Bitcoin Core version is below 0.13.0 AND the remote alert system is enabled and processing alert messages, leading to unbounded memory consumption.
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 data0.13.0
Upgrade Bitcoin Core to v0.13.0 or later, which addresses the unbounded map issue; for affected altcoins, apply the same upstream fix or implement size limits on alert message maps.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10724 — 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-2016-10724 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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