XRP Ledger Patches Critical Bug That Could Have Generated Billions in Phantom XRP

A vulnerability in the XRP Ledger, present for over a decade, was recently resolved after researchers demonstrated how an attacker could create billions of dollars worth of XRP from nothing.

The exploit involved an attacker opening hundreds of accounts, each offering a small amount of a token in exchange for an unusually large quantity of XRP. By sending a single payment that simultaneously purchased every offer, the total XRP owed would exceed the software’s capacity to count accurately. This overflow would result in the attacker’s selling accounts being paid in full while the buying account was charged a negligible amount, effectively generating XRP that did not previously exist.

The XRP Ledger performs a verification after every transaction to ensure no new XRP is created, but this safeguard relied on the same flawed calculation and would have failed to detect the anomaly. Additionally, limits on how much XRP an account can receive would not have prevented the exploit, as the excess XRP was distributed across hundreds of separate accounts.

The researchers’ proof-of-concept required only a few hundred XRP to establish the necessary accounts, a significant portion of which could be recovered, along with standard transaction fees.

The patch was deployed in xrpld version 3.4.1, the ledger’s core server software, on September 25, without publicly disclosing the specific issue addressed.

This incident is part of a broader trend of long-standing cryptocurrency vulnerabilities being uncovered through the use of artificial intelligence assistance, including a Coldcard wallet flaw tied to the theft of at least 1,367 BTC and other issues that prompted Core Lightning to advise Bitcoin node operators to disconnect from the network.

Source link