@konam
A privacy vulnerability has been discovered in Bitcoin Core v31.0 that could leak the actual IP addresses of node operators.
According to developers, this bug occurs when the 'private broadcast' feature—designed to send transactions privately—fails to connect correctly via the Tor network. When the connection fails, the node may attempt to find an alternative route, risking the exposure of the user's original IP address.
While there is no threat to the safety of funds or the integrity of the Bitcoin protocol itself, this poses a sensitive security risk for node operators who rely on Tor to mask their network location.
Temporary Mitigation
The development team is currently preparing a release for version 31.1 to address this vulnerability. Until the official patch is distributed, node operators should take the following precautions:
- Disable the private broadcast feature for the time being.
- Force your node’s network settings to Tor-only to prevent general IP exposure.
This bug is a technical implementation flaw, but in the Bitcoin ecosystem, where privacy is a core value, swift infrastructure management is essential. If you are running version 31.0, please verify your settings immediately and monitor for the upcoming minor update.