Bitcoin Core Memory Exhaustion Vulnerability

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-117350 is an OOM (Out-of-Memory) vulnerability in Bitcoin Core versions prior to 29.5, 30.4, 31.2, and 32.1. A malicious peer can exploit this by sending TCP urgent data to cause unbounded memory growth on non-Linux systems. The issue affects platforms using the select() socket monitoring backend, including Windows, macOS, and BSD, while Linux systems using poll() are unaffected.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability only affects Bitcoin Core nodes running on non-Linux systems (Windows, macOS, BSD) using the select() socket monitoring backend. To detect it, check your Bitcoin Core version against the patched releases (29.5, 30.4, 31.2, 32.1). If using an older version, monitor for abnormal memory usage or crashes during peer connections.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability could allow an attacker to crash your Bitcoin Core node by overwhelming its memory, potentially disrupting your ability to send, receive, or validate transactions. Non-Linux users are at higher risk if running outdated versions.

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Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Bitcoin Core to the latest patched version (29.5, 30.4, 31.2, or 32.1) immediately. If upgrading is not possible, restrict inbound peer connections or disable urgent TCP data handling as a temporary workaround.

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