Michaela
Andreas Kohl, the co-founder of Bitcoin sidechain Sequentia, has reportedly exploited a major vulnerability in the Dogecoin network, causing 69% of its nodes to crash using an old laptop.
On December 12, Kohl took to X to reveal that he had exploited the vulnerability discovered by researcher Tobias Ruck to crash the nodes.
“Let the records show that on this day 69% of the Dogecoin network was taken down by a single ThinkPad in rural El Salvador,” Kohl wrote in a separate post on X.
Data from Blockchair shows that before the vulnerability was exploited, Dogecoin had 647 active nodes. At the time of writing, it had 411 active nodes.
The flaw, dubbed “DogeReaper,” has the potential to bring down the entire network if fully exploited. The account @EfficiencyDOGE shared a public disclosure post containing a video along with detailed instructions on how it could be triggered.
The account explained that the “DogeReaper” vulnerability allows anyone to remotely crash any Dogecoin node. It further compared the flaw to the “Death Note” from the Japanese manga and anime, where writing a person’s name in a notebook causes their death.
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Similarly, the vulnerability allows an attacker to disable a node with minimal effort. By simply entering the address of the targeted node, a hacker can cause it to crash instantly due to a Segmentation Fault.
Due to Dogecoin nodes being public knowledge, @EfficiencyDOGE stated that “anyone could crash the entire Dogecoin network in an instant.”
“If a malicious actor would’ve found this bug instead of us, he could have stopped the Dogecoin network for at least a few days, with no transactions or blocks,” the account wrote.
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The account further revealed that Ruck and RoqqitDev had taken proactive steps to warn the community about the vulnerability. Both researchers sent multiple disclosure reports to the Dogecoin network and major cryptocurrency exchanges in an effort to prevent the vulnerability from being exploited.
After receiving the information about the vulnerability, Binance committed to addressing the issue within “this week.” Meanwhile, Coinbase assessed the report and classified the severity of the “DogeReaper” vulnerability as “low.” The exchange then marked the ticket as “informative” and awarded Ruck a $200 reward for his findings.
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MICHAELA
Michaela is a news writer focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain topics. She prioritizes rigorous research and accuracy to uncover interesting angles and ensure engaging reporting. A lifelong book lover, she applies her passion for reading to deeply explore the constantly evolving crypto world.
