Bitcoin Core speeds up security fixes as 44% of surveyed nodes run unsupported versions

Bitcoin Core merged a policy amendment on Oct. 22 that lets developers backport fixes for easily rediscovered vulnerabilities to every maintained release line and publish an advisory alongside them. A network snapshot from Oct. 18 shows that 3,671 of 8,422 self-reported Bitcoin Core peers (43.6%) ran release lines that had already reached end of life. The count comes from connected public peers in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Bitcoin network monitor and reflects maintenance eligibility. A node on an unsupported version can keep validating blocks correctly, and the figure doesn't measure compromise. Under the old policy, medium- and high-severity vulnerabilities stayed under embargo until two weeks past the end of life of the last affected release.

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