CVE-2015-3641Network attack vector

Remote node crash via oversized receive buffers

Published Mar 12, 2020 · Updated Aug 6, 2024

Memory exhaustion in Bitcoin Core bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.10.1 allows remote attackers to crash nodes through P2P messages. The P2P receive path reserved as much as 32 MiB per connection before reading each message payload, letting incomplete messages consume memory across concurrent peers. Any internet-reachable node accepting inbound peer connections is exposed, and successful exhaustion terminates the node without affecting transaction integrity.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability1.81%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory exhaustion in Bitcoin Core bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.10.1 allows remote attackers to crash nodes through P2P messages. The P2P receive path reserved as much as 32 MiB per connection before reading each message payload, letting incomplete messages consume memory across concurrent peers. Any internet-reachable node accepting inbound peer connections is exposed, and successful exhaustion terminates the node without affecting transaction integrity.

The record

CVE
CVE-2015-3641
Published
Mar 12, 2020
Updated
Aug 6, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
T1499.002
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 12, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 6, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.002Service Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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