Here’s why $25 billion in crypto in Dogecoin, Zcash and 280 other blockchains is at risk

Halborn evaluated several crypto blockchain networks and identified vulnerabilities that put nearly $25 billion worth of assets at risk. The blockchain security firm’s assessment revealed critical and exploitable vulnerabilities that put upwards of 280 networks including Litecoin and Zcash at risk. 

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Blockchain security firm identifies $25 billion risk in 280 blockchain networks

In March 2022, Halborn, a blockchain security firm was contracted to evaluate the Dogecoin open source codebase for any vulnerabilities that could affect the security of the blockchain.

During this assessment, several critical and exploitable vulnerabilities were identified by Halborn and have since been fixed by the Dogecoin team.

Post a broader review, Halborn determined that the same vulnerabilities affected over 280 other networks including Litecoin and Zcash, putting over $25 billion dollars of digital assets at risk.

The firm has code-named this vulnerability Rab13s. Assessing open-source code for blockchain networks like Dogecoin, Litecoin and similar codebases opened the possibility of attack in peer-to-peer (p2p) communications, through consensus messages. 

The team made contact with affected networks for responsible disclosure and explained the risks in its blog. The simplicity of the vulnerabilities makes them likely to be attacked and Halborn successfully developed an exploit kit for Rab13s that includes a proof of concept with configurable parameters in order to demonstrate the attacks on different networks.