CRYPTO CRIME | AI Finds Bitcoin Node Vulnerability Letting Hackers Crash Windows and Mac Systems

Bitcoin Core developers have disclosed three software vulnerabilities identified through an artificial intelligence scan including a flaw that allowed attackers to remotely crash Bitcoin nodes running on

• Windows,
• macOS, and
• BSD systems.

The vulnerability enabled a malicious peer to overwhelm a node with data causing memory exhaustion and a crash. Linux systems were not affected. Developers released fixes across supported Bitcoin Core versions on October 27 and 28 2026, before publicly disclosing the flaw on October 28 2026.

The findings mark the first disclosures under Bitcoin Core’s revised security policy which calls for faster publication of vulnerabilities that AI tools can easily discover rather than keeping them confidential for months while users upgrade.

REALITY CHECK | Bitcoin Core Changes Vulnerability Disclosure Policy as AI Threats Grow

The automated scan used a large language model to examine Bitcoin Core’s code with human contributors verifying the findings before they were submitted to the project’s security team. Two other vulnerabilities were also disclosed, involving

• memory growth and
• potential failures during blockchain reorganizations.

The episode highlights how AI is changing security across the crypto ecosystem making it easier to identify software weaknesses while reducing the time developers have to patch them before malicious actors discover and exploit the same flaws.

Bitcoin Core developers said three additional medium- and high-severity vulnerabilities fixed in version 30.0 are expected to be disclosed in November 2026.

REPORT | AI is 2x More Effective at Exploitation Than Detection in Crypto, Says Binance Research

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