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Bitcoin CoreApplication · Bitcoin

CVE-2024-52914

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.18.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
In Bitcoin Core before 0.18.0, a node could be stalled for hours when processing the orphans of a crafted unconfirmed transaction.

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 · moderate confidence

In Bitcoin Core before version 0.18.0, an attacker could craft a malicious unconfirmed transaction designed to create a flood of orphan transactions. When the node attempted to process these orphans, a flaw in the orphan handling logic could cause the node to stall for hours, effectively creating a denial-of-service condition against the affected node.

MitigationUpgrade Bitcoin Core to version 0.18.0 or later. For production environments, running the latest stable release is recommended as it includes all subsequent security fixes.

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:< 0.18.0

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

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Bitcoin Core version
    Run `bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo` and look for the 'version' field in the response, or run `bitcoin-cli --version` from the command line
    Affected if The reported version number is less than 180000 (0.18.0 in decimal representation)
  2. Confirm default orphan transaction handling is active
    Bitcoin Core handles orphan transactions automatically by default; no explicit configuration is typically required. Orphan transactions are created when a transaction spends an input that is not yet in the wallet or blockchain.
    Affected if The node is connected to the network and accepting transactions, which is the default operational state
  3. Verify network connectivity
    Run `bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo` and check that 'networkactive' is true and the node has peer connections
    Affected if The node has active network connections and is capable of receiving unconfirmed transactions from peers
  4. Check for transaction pool activity
    Run `bitcoin-cli getmempoolinfo` to confirm the mempool is active and the node is processing unconfirmed transactions
    Affected if The mempool is populated with transactions, indicating the node is actively processing incoming transactions

You are affected if your Bitcoin Core version is below 0.18.0 and your node is connected to the network with default transaction processing enabled.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.18.0 or later
Fixed in 0.18.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Bitcoin Core to version 0.18.0 or later. For production environments, running the latest stable release is recommended as it includes all subsequent security fixes.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Bitcoin Core 0.18.0 or later (current stable recommended)

  1. 1. Safely stop the running Bitcoin Core node (do not just kill the process - use 'bitcoin-cli stop' or equivalent)
  2. 2. Back up wallet.dat and bitcoin.conf configuration files to a secure location
  3. 3. Download Bitcoin Core version 0.18.0 or a later stable release from the official source at bitcoincore.org
  4. 4. Verify the GPG signatures of the downloaded binaries to ensure authenticity
  5. 5. Replace the existing Bitcoin Core binaries with the new version
  6. 6. Review and update bitcoin.conf if needed for any configuration changes between versions
  7. 7. Start the Bitcoin Core node with the new version
Caveat Upgrading across major versions may require chain state rescan or reindex; ensure backups are tested before production upgrade

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Bitcoin Core Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,360
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,176.

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-2024-52914 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