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Bitcoin CoreApplication · Bitcoin

CVE-2017-18350

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.15.1 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt prior to 0.15.1 have a stack-based buffer overflow if an attacker-controlled SOCKS proxy server is used. This results from an integer signedness error when the proxy server responds with an acknowledgement of an unexpected target domain name.

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 confidence

Bitcoin Core (bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt) before 0.15.1 contain a stack-based buffer overflow in SOCKS proxy handling. The vulnerability stems from an integer signedness error when processing proxy acknowledgments, allowing an attacker controlling the SOCKS proxy to overflow a stack buffer by sending an unexpected target domain name response.

MitigationUpgrade Bitcoin Core to version 0.15.1 or later. If using a SOCKS proxy, ensure it is a trusted proxy server and not controlled by an untrusted party.

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
Bitcoin CoreApplication
Affected:< 0.15.1

CVSS 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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Bitcoin Core version
    Run 'bitcoind --version' or 'bitcoin-qt --version' to get the installed version number
    Affected if Version is below 0.15.1 (e.g., 0.15.0, 0.14.x, etc.)
  2. Verify SOCKS proxy is configured
    Inspect bitcoin.conf for 'proxy=' settings or check running process arguments for '-proxy=' flag
    Affected if A SOCKS proxy is configured (e.g., proxy=127.0.0.1:9050 for Tor, or proxy=<ip>:<port>)
  3. Confirm proxy type is SOCKS
    Look for SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 in the proxy configuration (proxy= is SOCKS5 by default; SOCKS4 uses 'socks4=')
    Affected if SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 proxy is enabled in the configuration

A user is affected only if running Bitcoin Core version below 0.15.1 AND has a SOCKS proxy configured, with the risk being higher if the proxy is untrusted or controlled by a third party.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.15.1 or later
Fixed in 0.15.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Bitcoin Core to version 0.15.1 or later. If using a SOCKS proxy, ensure it is a trusted proxy server and not controlled by an untrusted party.

Fix this in Bitcoin Core Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-18350 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data