The controversy surrounding the saturation of the Bitcoin network caused by the Ordinals has taken a new turn. The technical flaw exploited for their creation has just been assigned the identifier CVE-2023-50428.
A Bitcoin vulnerability now listed
The Bitcoin network has been experiencing alarming saturation in recent days caused by a massive influx of transactions linked to BRC20 tokens. Tens of thousands of transactions have remained blocked, awaiting a slow confirmation, while the miners’ memory is reaching saturation. This situation automatically explodes the costs on the network.
Some developers blame the sneaky exploitation of a flaw in the Bitcoin Core code. This would allow ordinal inscriptions and BRC20 tokens integrated into Satoshi to bypass the restrictions normally imposed on the size of additional data in transactions.
On December 6, developer Luke Dashjr confirmed the application of a patch in Bitcoin Knots to block it. Now, in a tweet posted yesterday, he reveals that this specific vulnerability has been assigned the identifier CVE-2023-50428.
On December 6, developer Luke Dashjr confirmed the deployment of a patch in Bitcoin Knots to block this flaw. Today, in a tweet, he revealed that this vulnerability now has an official identifier: CVE-2023-50428. CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) being an international system for identifying vulnerabilities.
“For your information, this vulnerability has been assigned the identifier CVE-2023-50428,” he said.
A future patch still controversial
Although the vulnerability is now documented, the implications of a future patch are still controversial. Its implementation planned for next year could sign the death warrant of BRC20 tokens and ordinals, thus fueling tensions within the Bitcoin community.
The debate is gaining considerable momentum, fracturing the crypto community. Supporters of Ordinals thus emphasize the fact that developers do not hold absolute power over a decentralized network.
Additionally, many users and miners have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by BRC20, which has evolved into a thriving industry, particularly in the NFT sectors. Note that the OCEAN mining pool, supported by Jack Dorsey, has even decided to suspend the validation of transactions linked to the Ordinals protocol.
Whatever the outcome of this case, the assignment of the identifier CVE-2023-50428 underlines the urgency of the situation. The crucial question remains: will the flaw be corrected in version 27 of Bitcoin Core in 2024, potentially implying the abandonment of Ordinals? Will the Ordinals defenders be willing to sacrifice their thriving industry? The evolution of this situation arouses keen interest and promises to be captivating to follow.
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