LND Warns of Bitcoin Lightning Network Channel Closure Vulnerability

On August 13, LND disclosed a vulnerability in the Bitcoin Lightning Network that could jeopardize the entire balance in the channels. Standard version nodes below 0.21.0 have not received an official fix unless they have received an independent patch. Malicious channel counterparts can exploit this vulnerability after a cooperative closure by combining Bitcoin block reorganization with revoked commitment transactions. Bastien Teinturier, who released the announcement, stated that no known affected users have been found. Before a fix is implemented, LND may forget about the cooperatively closed channels after obtaining on-chain confirmation for the closure transaction. If the block is removed from the chain during reorganization, the node will no longer retain the necessary state to respond. Malicious counterparts need to participate in the cooperative closure, wait for confirmation, and then exploit the reorganization to remove the closure transaction and publish revoked commitment transactions, triggering penalty transactions. If the affected nodes do not broadcast the penalty transactions, the losses could amount to the total balance of the channel. The material emphasizes that this value represents the maximum loss condition and is not evidence that the vulnerability has been exploited in reality. This issue and its fix specifically involve LND, with official fixes starting from version 0.21.0, and it is recommended to use the latest minor version.

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