XRP Ledger patched decade-old bug that could create billions of dollars in XRP from nothing
Source: CoinDesk ·
From the source
Researchers demonstrated how a payment could create spendable XRP without the sender funding it, prompting an emergency software release. A flaw in the XRP Ledger’s payment system could have let an attacker create large amounts of new XRP without paying for it, breaking the token’s fixed-supply rule, according to a security report published Friday. The bug, believed to date to 2015, was found by researcher Cayden Liao and Veria AI and internally reported on Sept. 22. Engineers at RippleX, Ripple’s developer arm, reproduced the attack on a standalone server and confirmed the newly created XRP could be spent in a later transaction. RippleX said it found no evidence the flaw was exploited on any public network. All 100 billion XRP were created when the ledger launched in 2012, and its software is built so no more can ever be added. But the security vulnerability could have allowed an attacker to create XRP from nothing and sell it on exchanges, undercutting a supply cap that…