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Bitcoin Core EUVDEUVD-2026-114180

| CVE-2026-117349 MEDIUM
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)
2026-10-30 mitre GHSA-5q8q-px2m-hfmx
5.3
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: mitre
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Connect to target node as P2P peer
  2. Exploit
    Send crafted P2P messages exercising send path
  3. Execution
    Trigger unbounded memory accumulation
  4. Impact
    Exhaust node memory, degrade availability

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource consumption limits
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an attacker to establish a Bitcoin P2P connection to the target node and exercise the send-path/send-buffer behavior referenced by the vendor as the fPauseSend OOM; the condition is reachable without authentication or user interaction (PR:N/UI:N) against nodes running Bitcoin Core before 29.5, 30.4, 31.2 or 32.1. Exploitation is limited by the need for network reachability to the node's P2P port (most impactful against listening nodes that accept inbound peers) and by the impact ceiling itself - only availability is affected (A:L), yielding memory exhaustion/degradation rather than code execution or data exposure. The exact message sequence that triggers the OOM is not described in the available sources.

Impact

This is a medium-severity denial-of-service issue, not a high-priority emergency, and the signals are consistent rather than conflicting. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L, base 5.3) describes a remotely reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated condition whose only impact is partial availability (A:L) - no confidentiality or integrity effect - matching CWE-400 (uncontrolled resource consumption) and the described out-of-memory behavior. The EPSS probability is very low (0.16%, 5th percentile), there is no CISA KEV listing (not actively exploited), and no exploit code is identified in the input, so exploitation pressure today is minimal. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month', indicating a routine prioritized patch rather than act_now/emergency. Net: a genuine but moderate DoS against Bitcoin Core nodes that should be patched on a normal maintenance cycle; it is a low-real-risk issue relative to its network-reachable vector because the worst outcome is memory exhaustion / node degradation, not compromise.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A malicious or malfunctioning peer connects to a Bitcoin Core node over the P2P network and exercises the send-path behavior referenced in the vendor disclosure (fPauseSend / send-buffer handling), causing the node to accumulate memory until it is exhausted. The result is degraded availability or a crash of the targeted node; no authentication or user interaction is required (PR:N/UI:N), but no public exploit code is identified at time of analysis.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Nov 02, 2026

Memory exhaustion in Bitcoin Core's peer-to-peer send path (the fPauseSend OOM condition) allows a remote peer to drive a node into out-of-memory conditions, degrading or halting availability of the affected node. Nodes running versions prior to 29.5, 30.4, 31.2 and 32.1 are affected, per the vendor disclosure dated 2026-10-28. The vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L) confirms remote, unauthenticated reachability with only availability impact; EPSS is low at 0.16% (5th percentile) and there is no KEV entry, so this is a medium-severity denial-of-service issue rather than an emergency, triaged as 'this_month' remediation priority. No public exploit code was identified at time of analysis.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to the fixed release on the deployed branch: 29.5 for 29.x, 30.4 for 30.x, 31.2 for 31.x, or 32.1 for 32.x; the vendor disclosure at https://bitcoincore.org/en/2026/10/28/disclose-fpausesend-oom/ should be reviewed before rollout since it is the authoritative statement of affected and fixed versions. Because exploitation requires a peer connection to the node's P2P port, operators who cannot patch immediately can reduce reachability by not exposing the P2P listener to untrusted networks and by limiting inbound peer slots, at the cost of reduced peer connectivity and slower sync or relay performance; this is a reachability reduction, not a fix, and the vendor advisory remains the reference for any supported workaround. Prioritise this within the current month per the 'this_month' decision label, and validate the running version after upgrade because the supplied CPE data is unpopulated and cannot confirm remediation on its own.

Affected VersionsENISA

n/a n/a

Affects your stack

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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The flaw is an instance of CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) in Bitcoin Core's peer-to-peer networking layer, specifically tied to the send-path/send-buffer pausing behaviour the vendor labels fPauseSend. Because Bitcoin nodes accept inbound connections from arbitrary peers on the P2P port, the attack surface is the wire protocol itself: a connecting peer can exercise the send-path handling that the vendor's disclosure identifies as the OOM trigger. The CVSS vector PR:N/UI:N indicates no privileges or user interaction are needed once a peer connection is established, and AV:N/AC:L reflects that the path is network-reachable with no special attack complexity. Impact is bounded to A:L - memory exhaustion and service degradation rather than code execution or data exposure. The exact message sequence that produces the OOM is not described in the available sources, and the supplied CPE string is unpopulated (n/a:n/a), so the affected version ranges are taken from the vendor advisory rather than from CPE matching.

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Severity by source

Vendor (mitre) PRIMARY 5.3 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
vuln.today AI 5.3 MEDIUM

Reachable over the P2P network by an unauthenticated peer with low complexity (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); impact is limited to partial availability via memory exhaustion (A:L), no C/I.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).

CVSS VectorVendor: mitre

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

Lifecycle Timeline

2
CVSS changed
Nov 02, 2026 - 18:22 NVD
5.3 (MEDIUM)
CVE Published
Oct 30, 2026 - 00:00 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

Bitcoin Core prior to 29.5, 30.4, 31.2 and 32.1 is vulnerable to an OOM issue.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 95% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
reference Bitcoin node implementation, large but domain-specific node footprint
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

26
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +26
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

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