Author: Gavin Andresen 2016-02-07 14:16:02
Published on: 2016-02-07T14:16:02+00:00
In this discussion on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, the issue of outdated nodes was raised. A node that is not updated will eventually stop receiving new blocks and funds won't be confirmed. However, if someone decides to attack the node, it could receive confirmations for a large payment, leading users to believe it is irreversibly confirmed when it's actually part of a double-spend attack. If the node is on a weaker branch of a fork, it could take up to a week to get six confirmations. Full nodes are warned to upgrade their software, but lightweight nodes may not be aware of the issue, although they may disconnect and reconnect to the network several times during that week, increasing their chances of connecting to full nodes on the majority branch of the chain where they would be told about the double-spend. It is suggested that DNS seeds avoid reporting nodes that are significantly behind the rest of the network.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T03:45:31.269668+00:00