# CVE-2017-9230: Other in n/a

> A theoretical weakness in Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work algorithm allows optimized mining, though it is widely considered a benign optimization rather than a security vulnerability.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 May 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hx58-x97g-cc9p

## What is CVE-2017-9230?

CVE-2017-9230 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 May 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Bitcoin Proof-of-Work algorithm does not consider a certain attack methodology related to 80-byte block headers with a variety of initial 64-byte chunks followed by the same 16-byte chunk, multiple candidate root values ending with the same 4 bytes, and calculations involving sqrt numbers. This violates the security assumptions of (1) the choice of input, outside of the dedicated nonce area, fed into the Proof-of-Work function should not change its difficulty to evaluate and (2) every Proof-of-Work function execution should be independent. NOTE: a number of persons feel that this methodology is a benign mining optimization, not a vulnerability

Weakness: CWE-338 (Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG))

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-9230?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Bitcoin Bitcoin.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-9230?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-9230 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-9230 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-9230 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2021-3401](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3401/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-31876](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31876/): Business logic in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-9230 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-9230 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 May 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-9230 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9230/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9230/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9230
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9230
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-9230

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9230/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.