Home Spotlight ETH Nodes Might Be Vulnerable, New Report Suggests

ETH Nodes Might Be Vulnerable, New Report Suggests

BitMex Research’s new website Nodestats.org has examined the Ethereum’s Parity Full node and discovered a potential bug in it.

Bitmex has recently launched Nodestats.org. Its purpose is to collect key metrics on Ethereum nodes.

Together with TokenAnalyst, the website’s analysts scrutinize key data for Ethereum Parity and Ethereum Geth clients. This data is subsequently compared with such factors and requirements as CPU usage, memory (RAM), bandwidth and storage space.

The researchers were collecting data between March 1-March 12. During this period, they discovered that there is a problem related to sync. Thus on the 12th of March the node was still not completely synced with the Ethereum blockchain. The client was still around 450,000 blocks behind.

The problem with speed is not a big issue. Bitmex’s analysts point out that it should soon catch up:

“While the slow initial sync is a potential problem, at least for this system setup, Ethereum has not yet reached a point where the node cannot catch up, as the sync is faster than the rate of blockchain growth.”

They are more preoccupied with the fact that the Parity node “sometimes reports that it is in sync, despite being several hundred thousand blocks behind the chain tip.”

Is this potential bug a threat? Both yes and no. The report’s authors admit that malign actors might use this opportunity to interfere with the nodes, saying:

“For example a user could accept an incoming payment or smart contract execution as verified, while their node claims to be at the network chain tip. […] The attacker would need to double spend at a height the vulnerable node wrongly thought was the chain tip, which could have a lower proof of work requirement than the main chain tip.”

Yet it is too early to panic, as they also admit that the chances are highly unlikely. Moreover, the report’s authors state that they have only just begun to collect data. And thus it is too early to draw any conclusions.

ETH in the loop

It has been a busy week for ETH. Chairman of the Securities and Exchanges Commission Jay Clayton confirmed that the coin as well other cryptocurrencies like it are not securities. He that William Hinman’s explanation of how digital assets evolve is the right one.

Besides, MyEtherWallett announced the launch of its new open source Ethereum blockchain explorer, EthVM. So far only the Alpha version is available.

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Lesia Dubenko
A warm hello from Ukraine! My name is Lesia, I am a journalist, writer, political scientist, and crypto enthusiast. Before joining AltcoinBuzz in May I knew nothing about crypto, I was in the dark (it was very gloomy indeed). I was all skeptic and suspicious. But then one day, probably in June-July when I was doing a podcast with James and Matt, I finally grasped the concept in full. That is when I truly started to enjoy it thoroughly. I am a big believer in crypto and blockchain. There is no doubt that it is the future. But be patient, it needs time, like a fine Chardonnay. However, if you want to know when the next bull run is happening, I highly recommend asking Luc Lammers. He will definitely spill the beans! xxx

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